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2S  W?*;?  (^'Atrj  fAREET 

WEBSTER,  i<t  •.  MS80 

(716)  872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  f'ming,  are  checked  below. 


E    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


D 
D 


D 
D 


□ 


D 


Couverture  endommageu 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur6e  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 


..e  titre  de  couverture  manque 


Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


□    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Ti^ht  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int6rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cola  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6td  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires: 


L'lnstitut  a  microfilmd  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  dt6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographiqub,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 


D 
D 
D 


D 


/ 


D 
D 
D 
D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^es 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaur6es  et/ou  pellicul6es 


r~~|    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 


Pages  d6color6es,  tachetdes  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d^tachSes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matdriel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6ti  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  facon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film^  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu^  ci-dessous 

10X                            14X                            18X                            22X 

26X 

30X 

/ 

12X 


lex 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  filmed  h«r«  Hm  b««n  r«produc«d  thanks 
to  tha  gonorosity  of: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


L'oxomplairo  film*  fut  raprodult  grica  i  la 
ginAroalti  da: 

Library  Division 

Provincial  Archives  of  British  Columbia 


Tha  Imagaa  appearing  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaaibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  laglblllty 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacificationa. 


Original  copia»  In  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  beck  cover  when  eppropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  iilustreted  impres- 
sion, end  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printad 
or  Illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  •^^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  imeges  suivantae  ont  AtA  reproduites  evec  le 
plus  grand  soln,  compta  tenu  de  le  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  I'exempleire  film*,  et  en 
conformitA  evec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmege. 

Les  exemplalres  origlnaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAe  sont  filmAs  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plet  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darniire  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'Impression  ou  d'lMustratlon.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  ces.  Tous  les  eutres  exemplaires 
origlneux  sont  filmAs  en  commen9ent  par  la 
premiire  page  qui  comporte  une  eiiipreinte 
d'Impression  ou  d'illustrrtion  et  en  terminent  par 
ia  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivents  apparaltra  sur  la 
darnlAre  imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  solon  le 
ces:  le  symbols  —^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ',  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Meps,  plates,  cherts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  ere  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  end  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  rAduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  ii  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  heut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


■ 

1-    t  ■ 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

w 


wmm 


mmmm 


A  LECTURE 


ON  TH£ 


OKEGON  TEKKITOKY. 


I.  THE  TITLE  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO  ITS  SOVERiaGN^Y.     ' 

II.  ITS  CAPABILITIES  XnD  VALUE  TO  OUR  COUNTRY. 

m.  AND  THE  NECESSITY  OP  AN  IMMEDIATE  SETTLEMENT  OF  IT 
PROM  THE  STATES.  , 


m 


BY  PETER  A.  BROWNE,  LL.D. 


OF  PHILADELPHIA. 


«->»■*.  >^^N.  •-■>.  v^V^-S*N<  V^*"N*'V^  WV^v 


DUCIT  AMOR  PATRLE." 


PHILADELPHIA; 

VRITBD  STATIS  BOOK  ANP  JOB  PRINTIIfO  OFFIOS,  LSOOER  BTTILDINQ. 


1843. 


# 


OREGON  TERRITORY. 


# 


The  su])ject  of  the  present  Essny  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  every  Aiiicricaii,  native  or  naiuralizcd, 
who  retains  within  his  brba.«t  one  spark  of  national 
feeling  or  one  remaining  a.-i|)inilion  for  tlie  glory  or 
welfare  of  this  Republic.  Our  best  hopes  of  present 
public  prosperity,  and  our  most  devout  expectations 
of  future  public  renown  are  intiniatsly  connected 
with  one  word — "  Oregon  ;"'  and  the  American 
citizen  who  would  ret'use  to  listen  to  the  voice  of 
truth  in  regard  to  the  in  imentous  national  (juestions 
connected  with  that  1'  itory,  must  be  either  too 
supine  to  be  a  good  or  vali  '>le  member  of  this  com- 
munity, or  too  subservient  i^  'he  inordinate  ambition 
and  avarice  of  a  rival  nation,  who  would  rob  our 
children  of  a  noble  inhentniicu.  "For  the  present  ex- 
position and  disoussioii  is,  therefore,  claimed  a  de- 
gree of  attention  much  greater  than  its  author  has  a 
right,  personally,  to  expect,  but  which  caimot  exceed 
that  which  the  subject  imperiously  demands.  As 
there  is  much  to  say  no  further  time  will  be  expend- 
ed in  prefatory  remarks,  but  an  immediate  entry 
upon  the  discussion  will  be  made. 

Has«  the  United  States  title  to  the  Sovereignty  of 
Oregon  Territory  ? 

According  to  establislied  maxims  of  the  Laws  of 
Nu.ions,  tliere  are  three  methods  in  wliich  a  nation 
may  acquire  the  sovereignty  of  a  country.  1st.  By 
discovery.  2d.  By  ccsioii  of  the  rightful  owner. 
3d.  By  conquest. 

A  brief  explanation  of  the  first  title  may  be  useful. 
Under  this  title  the  sovereignty  of  all  the  vast  regions 
of  North  and  South  America,  as  well  as  of  the  West 
India  Islands  was  originally  acquired  ;  and  under  this 
title  is  it  now  held,  mediately  or  immediately.  Upon 
the  juitir.e  of  a  Christian  people  invading  the  Terri- 
tories of  barbarous  nations  and  thrusting  them  frofn 
the  soil  upon  which  the  great  God  of  the  universe 
lias  planted  them,  not  one  word  will  be  said — not  one 
word  can  be  said,  except  that  it  appears  to  be  a  law 
of  nature,  that  civiUzedTonii  shall  gradually  succeed 
to  the  uncivilized.  It  is  too  late  to  discuss  the  question 
between  the  Europeoii  and  the  Indian  with  views  of 
retribution;  and  certain  it  U,  that  neither  England, 
France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Holland,  Sweden  nor. Den- 
mark can  object  to  sovereignty  thus  acquired,  since 
they  have  all  severally,  more  oj  less,  participated  in 
the  practice  and  enjoyed  the  profits. 

To  her  possessions  in  Canada,  England  can  produce 
no  better  title  than  her  first  discovery,  and  that  of 
the  French,  under  whom  she  claims.  To  the  im- 
mense  regions  in  South  America,  Spain  never  had 


any  other  title.  Portugal  holds  the  Brazils  by  the 
same  tenure.  With  what  justice  then  could  u  be 
required  of  the  United  States  to  protluce  any  other 
title  than  her  own  prior  discovery  and  those  of  the 
nations  under  whom  she  claims  ?  No  other  title 
ever  did  exist  in  them,  nor  ever  can  be  shown. 

But  what  is  meant  by  "  prior  discovery  ?'^  Is  it  a 
mere  view  of  the  land  from  a  distance  ?  It  is  the 
first  sight,  followed  up  by  a  landing  upon  the  soil  ? 
Is  it  the  first  sight  of  it,  landing  upon  the  soil  and 
taking  formal  possession  ?  Or  is  it  the  first  sight  of 
the  land,  followed  up  by  landing  and  taking  posses- 
sion, and  a  subsequent  settlement  of  the  same,  within 
a'reasonable  time,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
«ase  ? 

It  is  proposed  to  show,  and  will  be  shown,  that 
the  nation  with  whom  we  are  at  present  contending 
for  the  right  of  sovereignty  to  Oregon  Territory  has, 
at  different  times,  claimed  and  maintained  sovereignty 
under  everyone  of  these  definitions  of  prior  discovery 
— and  that  the  United  States  can  show  title  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Oregon  Territory  under  them  all. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  case  of  the  Falkland  Islmids, 
In  1.592,  Capt.  Davis,  who  had  been  sent  out  with 
Cavendish,  in  his  last  voyage,  was  driven  by  storm 
towards  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  where  he,  accident- 
ally saw  some  of  these  Islands  from  the  deck  of  his 
ship.  He  left  them,  without  observation,  or  even 
giving  them  a  name. 

In  1593-4,  Sir  Richard  Hawkins  saw  one  of  these 
Islands,  took  it  for  the  main,  and  gave  it  the  name  of 
'•  Hawkiu's  Maiden  Land."  The  account,  taken 
from  history,  of   this   discovery  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Sir  Richard  Hawkins,  being  bound  for  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  was  driven  by  a  cross  wind  on  some 
part  of  the  continent,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
Hawkiu's  Maiden  Land.  A  promontory  sh.wt- 
Ing  out  uito  the  sea  with  three  points  he  called 
Point  Trememain,  and  a  pleasant  Isle  not  far  distant 
he  called  Fair  Island," — Heylyn's  Geography,  publiih- 
ed  in  London  in  1674. 

In  1508-9,  Sebald  de  West,  a  Dutch  navigator, 
came  to  the  some  Islands,  and  supposing  himself  to 
be  the  first  discoverer,  called  them  "Sebald's  Is- 
lands." England  heard  no  more  of  them  for  a 
century  ;  and  their  existtnct  was  even  called  in 
question. 

In  the  reign  of  William,  one  Strong,an  Englishman, 
is  said  to  have  found  them  out  again,  and  he  called 
them  '<  Falkland's  Islands." 


V4 


S^% 


•i 


A    LECTITRE   ON    Tlin 


No  more  wn'i  heurd  or  tlioiifrlit  of  them,  in  Kiig- 
IiiikI.  until  nfter  thu  Ircnty  of  1703. 

Ill  ]'i\\.  Ciipt.  n.vroii,  on  a  voyiiRe  of  discovery,  de- 
srrii'd  Piilkliiiid  l»laiid»,  enterud  the  liiirbor,  liiiiduil 
on  onf  mid  took  poHNussioii  of  llie  port  uiid  siirroinid- 
in«!  Is!iiMd«  in  the  name  of  Geore  III.  Ho  railed  the 
Haven.  "  Port  K^monl."     He  made  no  Hijtllc-nienl. 

In  1706,  the  Kin)?  of  Spain  neiit  troops  from  Hdeiioii 
Ayres  to  another  of  these  Islands,  took  poMe^aion  of 
it,  settleil  it,  and  culled  it  •■  Solidade." 

In  tlic  same  year,  Capt.  McHride  established  agar- 
ri»on  at  P' .»  Kgmont. 

It  did  not  appear  that  either  <f  these  persons  knew 
of  the  movement  of  the  other,  before  the  year  17(i!). 
In  that  year  a  dispute  arose  between  the  two  nations 
as  to  the  sovereignty,  which  Knj;land  claimed  in  right 
of  prior  (/(.vrotrry.  Now  this  claim  of  frreat  Kritain 
was  founded  upon  a  discovery  of  the  baldest  and 
most  naked  character.  Their  captains  saw  some  of 
the  islands  from  tha decks  of  their  re.specnve  ships. 
They  neither  landed  nor  made  any  demonstrations  of 
an  intention  of  taking  possession  ;  nor  for  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-lour  years  wits  it  followed  up  by 
any  attempt  to  make  a  settlement ;  yet  Great  Uritain 
jiertinaciously  insisted  upon  her  erclusive  risiht  to 
the  whole  of  the  islands,  mid  Spain  was  obliged  to 
submit. 

It  is  requested  that  this  case  will  be  borne  in  mind 
until  we  come  to  examine  the  case  of  Nootka  Simiid, 
when  Great  Britain  changed  her  gnmnd,  insLstiug 
upon  rights  of  occupancy  of  recent  date,  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  prior  discovery  of  Spain,  of  a  much  more 
perfect  kind  thaii  thio  of  Kngluud  to  the  Fulkland 
Islands. 

Let  us  now  e-xatnine  what    'ere  the  circumstances 
under  which  Great  Britain  claimed  the  right  of  sove 
reignty  over  her  former  North  Aniericuu  Colonies, 
now  the  United  Slates. 

Ill  1493,  Coulumbus  discovered  the  West  Indies. 

Ill  141)7,  Giovanni  Gubato,  a  Venetian,  (Anglice, 
John  Cabot,)  in  the  employ  of  Henry  VII,  of  Knglund, 
discovered  the  Island  of  Newfoundland  and  the  At- 
lantic coast,  as  far  as  what  has  since  been  culled 
"  Virginia."  King  Henry  was  informed  of  these  dis- 
coveries, but  made  no  seitlement,  nor  any  motion 
lowards  one.  Henry  VII  died,  and  Henry  VIII  came 
to  the  throne.  Thr.iugh  the  whole  of  liis  reign, 
though  trade  was  carried  on  with  the  West  Indies, 
(which,  says  the  English  historian,  Bissett,  had  been 
"  seized"  and  settled  by  the  Spaniards)  no  attempt 
was  made  by  Great  Britain  to  settle  in  the  New 
World.  Henry  VIII  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Ed- 
ward VI;  through  his  short  reign  no  settlement  was 
made  upon  the  North  American  continent  by  a  single 
British  subject.  To  Edward  succeeded  Mary,  in  1553, 
and  to  Mary  in  1558,  Elizabeili.  In  15«3,  eighty-six 
years  after  the  discovery  of  Cabot,  the  first  British 
Charter  of  colonization  was  signed  by  the  Virgin 
Queen,  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert.  Under  his  authori- 
ty two  expeditions  were  fitted  out  to  Newfoundland 
and  Cape  Breton,  both  of  which  ended  disastrously. 
Very  soon  afterwards  a  similar  patent  was  granted  to 
Raleigh,  to  settle  the  Southern  part  of  North  Ame- 
rica. Upon  his  return  thence,  he  reported  that  he 
found  a  beautiful  country,  which  he  had  called 
"  Virginia."  The  first  colony  was  afterwards  landed 
in  1607;  but  their  affairs  were  so  badly  conducted 


that,  to  avoid   famine,   tlicy  ahandrmed  the  country 
and  returned  to  England  again. 

Raleigh  made  a  second  attempt  at  sctllemprit,  but 
with  no  lietler  siiceeM.  To  Elizabeth  siiccerdeil 
James  In  the  early  part  of  his  reigii,  one  Hacklyt 
published  a  very  interesting  volume  of  voyages  and 
discoveries — an  excitement  was  thereby  created,  unci 
in  coiiseqiianci'.ancxpelition  was  filled  out  in  which 
Gosnold  reached  Massachusetts  Bay.  They  thenco 
coasted  to  tlie  South,  landed  nnil  traded  with  the  In- 
dians, but  made  no  settlement,  nnd  retiirnecl  to  Eng- 
land. King  James  then  divided  the  discovered  land 
into  two  |xirtions,  one  which  he  called  "  Virginia,'' 
and  the  other  '•  New  England.''  A  lA)ndon  Company 
with  Hacklyt  at  their  head,  received  a  grant  of  the 
former,  and  the  Plymouth  Company  of  the  latter. 
Massachusetts  was  settled  in  lOQO,  Connecticut  in 
1033  or  4,  Maryland  in  1(i3t,  Rhode  Island  in  1635, 
Maine  in  163i.  Now  Hampshire  in  1637,  North  Caro- 
lina in  16(i3,  South  Carolina  in  1670,  and  Peiuisylvnnia 
in  1631. 

Notwithstnnding  these  tardy  movements  of  the 
British  in  settling  the  lands  bordering  on  the  Atlantic 
Oceim,  that  nation  pertinaciously  insisted  upon  her 
exclusive  right  to  the  whole  territory  by  virtue  of 
prior  discovery;  and  when  the  Dutch,  who  made  the 
first  settlement  of  New  York,  claimed  that  colony, 
they  were  attacked  and  driven  away  by  the  British  in 
1611.  And  when  ttiey  (the  Dutch)  returned  ugjiin 
the  next  year,  resettled  and  fortified  tliemsel  vel<,  they 
were  regarded  as  trespassers.  And  after  the  death 
of  James,  King  Charles  the  II,  in  lf)61,  granted  to  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  a  large  tract  of  cnuntry, 
including  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  n  large 
force  under  Colonel  Nichols  was  sent  out  to  put  him 
in  |Mi8se»sion.  They  arrived  in  the  harlnir,  summon- 
ed the  provice  to  surrender,  and  upon  their  refusing 
to  comply  the  Britisii  look /urcibU  possession  o[  Jiew 
York  and  New  Jersey.* 

Here  we  find  the  English  Government  Insisting 
upon  the  prior  right  of  ilisrovery,  after  a  delay  o{  set- 
tlement of  123  years,  against  those  who  had  settled  in 
the  intermediate  time. 

So  the  first  settlers  of  Delaware  were  the  Swedes 
and  Finns.  In  the  year  1627,  they  made  a  permanent 
settlement  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware  river,  under 
the  auspices  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  reigning 
Prince  of  Denmark.  Their  title  was,  ho-.vcver,  dis- 
puted by  both  the  Dutch  and  the  English.  In  the 
year  1655,  they  were  attacked  by  the  former,  and  the 
latter  having  prevaile.l,  the  Swedes  were  obliged  to 
come  under  the  sovereignty  of  Great  Britain. 

Ilifving  shown  how  scrupul'^usly  GrcU  Britain  has 
insisted  upon  the  right  of  prior  discovery  where  her 
title  Wiis  concerned,  let  us  next  inquire  how  far  she 
has  regarded  this  right,  when  it  alTected  the  title  of 
others. 

Oregon  Territory  lies  on  the  northwest  coast  of 
North  America,  between  latitudes  423  and  54°  40'. 
As  early  as  1543,  Bartolome  Ferrelo,  a  Spaniard, 
pushed  his  discoveries  as  far  North  as  43°,  and  landed 
at  a  place  since  called  "  Cape  Blanco." 

Ir  1.5(1*2,  Juan  de  Fupa,  a  Simniard,  discovered  a 
strait  in  lat.  49°  to  51°,  which  Vancouver,  in  1792, 

*  In  1674,  a  formal  cession  of  the  whole  territory 
was  made  by  Holland  to  Gre-.t  Britain. 


OnEC;ON     TERRITORY. 


called  the  '•  SirniU  of  Fiirii,"'  in  hoiuir  of  the  first 
ilisodverer.  He  (Dc  Fiica)  staid  there  twenty  diiyd, 
trading;  witli  the  nutiyeit. 

ill  Itju;},  Ajfuiler,  in  tlie  Spanish  employ,  discovered 
the  inoulh  of  tiic  river  rin|)qiiii,  in  Int.  44t^. 

In  177t,  Perez  and  Martinez,  under  the  Spaniiih 
flag,  discovered  a  sound,  belween  Int.  4!lb  and  50H, 
(since  railed  "N(M)lka  Hound,'')  to  which  th«y  gave 
the  imiiic  of  "  Port  San  Lorenzo."  This  was  the 
first  visit  that  had  ever  been  iniide  to  that  place  by  un 
Eiirnpeun.  The  Spaniards  remained  there  suniu 
time,  tniitnii;  with  tliu  natives. 

In  ir<.j,  the  Spaniards  discovered,  in  lat.  4G",  a  pro- 
montory, which  wa.*  culled  '•San  Roqne,"  since 
known  as  "  Cape  Disuppoiulnieiit."  Also,  a  bay,  in 
lat.  ait*,  of  which  they  took  possession,  and  culled  it 
"  Port  Kumedios." 

Oilier  parts  of  tliis  c<iust  were  discovered  by  the 
Spaniards,  up'.ui  which  it  is  uiinece.s.sury,  at  present, 
to  dwell. 

The  foregoing  formed  the  title  of  Spain  to  Oregon 
Territory,  in  right  of  prior  discovery;  and  it  wn» 
ample.  To  this  title  of  Spain,  the  United  States  suc- 
ceeded, by  the  treaty  of  '2'M  February,  Is  111 ;  recog- 
nized and  confirmed  by  tlic  treaty  with  Me.iico,  of 
12lh  .January,  1828. 

We  must  now  take  some  notice  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Britisli  Govennnent,  in  regard  to  a  part  of  Ore- 
gon Territory. 

One  of  the  claims  of  England  to  Oregon  is  liased 
upon  the  supposition  that  it  was  discovered  by  Fran- 
cis Drake  in  1577,  and  by  him  called  "  New  Albion." 
All  the  particulars  of  this  pretended  discovery  will 
be  found  ui  Hcylyn's  (ieography,  published  in  Lon- 
don in  1071,  from  wliicii  it  appears  that  this  New 
Albion  lies  within  the  boundaries  of  California,  a 
part  of  the  main  land,  on  the  western  coast  of  North 
America,  which  had  been  discovered  by  Ferdinand 
Cortes,  in  the  einph)y  of  Spain,  in  1631,  forty-three 
years  before  Drake  made  his  appearance  in  those 
seas.  The  ground  upon  which  this  Kngl'ih  oificpr 
laid  claim  to  the  discovery,  was  an  ignorant  belief 
that  it  W!ts  an  t.>/an(/,  separiiled  entirely  from  the 
main  land  by  a  part  of  the  Pacific  ocean,  which  he 
called  '-Mare  Verniiglio."  If  Drake,  uistead  of 
going  tlirough  a  lidiculous  ceremony,  which  he  ex- 
ullingly  describes,  of  taking  a  formal  surrender  to 
England  of  the  Indian  crown  from  some  ignorajit 
natives,  whose  language  he  did  not  understaiul,  and 
of  slicking  up  the  anus  of  G.  Urilain  uihiu  a  territo- 
ry which  ever  had  been  and  ever  has  been  acknow- 
ledged to  have  behHiged  to  the  Spaniards,  had  taken 
ordinary  pains  to  understand  the  country,  he  would 
liave  lound  that  his  "  New  Albion"  was  no  island  at 
all — that  his  iKiriherii  point  of  thi.*  island  was  none 
other  than  the  conliiuntal  Cape  Ulanco  of  the  Spa- 
nish discoverers,  situate  in  California,  and  that  his 
new  Mi're  V'Tniiglio  was  only  the  '' (iulf  of  Calil'or- 
iiia,"  which,  at  its  head,  in  lat.  33",  receives  the  Ci-- 
lorado,  and  not  a  strait  of  the  sen,  extending  I'lomthe 
Tropic  of  Cancer  to  lat.  3ri",  as  he  supposed.  I  have 
in  my  possession  a  map,  published  in  Liondon  in  lOUO, 
eighty-nine  years  after  this  pretended  discovery  of 
Sir  Francis  Drake,  wherein  all  the  land  on  this  coast, 
north  of  lat.  i'iy,  is  marked  as  •'  Terra  Boreatis  inrng' 
niti,"  which  mai)  never  could  have  been  published 
in  F.nglund,  at  that  time,  if  Sir  F.  Drake  had  pre- 


viously discovered  Oregon  Territory.  Is  it  not  riili- 
culous  for  Kngluiid  to  lay  claim  to  Oregon  under  such 
a  discovery,  when  they  are  obliged  to  admit,  from 
Drake's  own  confessions,  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the 
coast  beyond  lat.  3b'^,  luid  Oregon  Territory  com- 
mences ttt  42'^  ? 

In  the  next  place,  let  us  examine  the  discoveries 
of  Capt.  Cook,  under  which  Great  Britain  claims 
Oregon.  In  1770,  two  years  after  the  Spaniards  had 
discovered  Nootka  Sound,  and  at'ter  the  news  of  that 
discovery  had  actually  reached  Knglaud,  Capt.  Cooke 
was  sent  to  discover  a  northwest  pas.«age  I'rom  the 
Allantiu  to  the  Pacific  oceans,  He  had  positive  in- 
struction.'! not  to  lose  time  in  search  of  new  laiiilf,  nor 
to  stop  at  any  fallen  in  with,  except  to  wood  and  wa- 
ter, ii   'il  he  had  reached  lat,  0.5",  and  not  to  take  pos- 

scssi >f  any  countries  already  discovered  or  visited 

by  any  Kuropeaii  power.  He  "  towr/icd"  (says  an 
Kiiglish  liistorian,  liissett,)  at  Nootka  Sound.  He  diil 
not,  at  the  time,  preleitU  to  be  the  discoverer — he  was 
aware  of  the  prior  discovery  of  Perez  and  .Martinez, 
and  found  ainoiig  the  natives  articles  of  European 
manufacture.  This  pliice  might  never  have  been 
again  visited  by  an  Englishman,  but  for  an  accidental 
circumstance.  Some  of  Cooke's  crew  purchased 
some  furs  of  the  natives,  which  were  sold  to  advan- 
tage in  China,  Captain  King,  who  wrote  the  history 
of  Cooke's  voyage,  mentioned  this  circumstance,  and 
recommended  it  to  his  countrymen  as  a  It' ;rative 
trade.  In  consequence,  John  McPherson,  Governor 
General  of  India,  acting  under  instructions  from  the 
British  Cabinet,  fitted  out  two  small  vessels,  and  sent 
a  few  adventurers  to  NcK)tka  Sound  in  H^W.  In  17fci) 
Dbout  seventy  Chinese  were  transported  thither. 
Meares,  who  hud  the  coininand,  built  a  house  and  for- 
tified it.  In  17f9,  Martinez,  a  Spanish  captain,  dis- 
covered these  iiitrnders,  took  possession  of  their  build- 
ing and  ship,  sent  the  crews  to  a  Spanish  port,  took 
d  iwni  the  English  colors  and  raised  the  Spanish  in 
their  place.  From  the  English  account  of  this  trans- 
action, as  recorded  hi  Bissett's  continuation  of  Hume's 
Histor;jiuf  England,  1  vol,  p,  2li4,  the  following  hifer- 
ences  niiy  t'airly  he  drawn: 

1st.  That  no  prior  or  contiicling  discovery  to  that  of 
the  Spaniards,  of  the  Oregon  territory,  was  ever  made 
by  Drake  or  Cook,  or  any  other  Englishman  :  for,  1st, 
the  Sptuiish  nation  (says  this  English  historian)  claimed 
CTC/Mxce  sni'ereigntt/,  imvigation,  and  commerce  in 
those  territories,  coasts  and  seas.  This  claim  was 
iiiiide,  in  T<ondon,  by  the  Spanish  ainba-ssudor,  uiulera 
full  conviction  of  the  right  of  his  nation.  The  British 
King,  George  HI,  iinincdiutely  demamled — what? 
Restoration  to  him  of  the  invaded  territory,  his  Siive- 
reignty.of  which  had  been  made  indisputable  by  prior 
di.scovcry  ?  Not  at  all.  He  demanded  ailequate  sa- 
tisfaction ti>  the  individuals  injured,  and  for  the  insult 
ofTered  the  nation  through  the  subjects.  Now,  it 
is  inquired  whether,  according  to  the  rule  of  t.rprtssio 
uniits  est  txclusio  alterius,  by  the  enumerining  of 
these  griivances,  George  HI  did  not  admit  that  there 
were  none  others  to  be  redressed,  and  that,  therefore, 
the  British  htid  no  title  to  tlie  sovereigrUy  of  Oregon 
Territuryl 

But,  secondly,  the  King  comjilained  to  Parliament — 
ond  what  was  the  gravamen  of  that  complaint  ?  •'  The 
message  of  the  King  (says  this  English  historian) 
stated,  the    injury,  (i.  e,,  the  injury  before  stated,  for 


A    LECTURE    ON    THE 


hnM  thrrn  licrn  niiy  ni'W  (iiip  it  would  Uuvc.  Ix'f-n 
ineiilioniHl,)  the  iiiKiilt,  llii;  Halisriiotion  iloiimiiilcil,  and 
the  ruply."  Th<!  Kiii);,  iliuii,  in  tliiit  foriiml  pnpcr, 
nffuiii  ndniitti!(t  ihut  tlit  Brilifh  nation  luul  no  title  to 
tlie  snvfrtiKiity  of  Oreifon.  Then  riiiiit;  Mr.  I'ilt's 
fipKfch.  Now,  if  the  Kiii)(,  in  liin  ini'xmi^u,  liud  oiiiil- 
ted  to  Mate  a  fact  no  iiii|)ortuiit  hh  his  ri)(ht  of  mivc- 
reijnity,  or  to  rol'er  to  an  evunt  ho  i«lrikiii)(  (had  it  oc- 
rurrud  so  reecntly)  an  their  prior  discovery  of  Noolka 
Soinid,  whic)i  wouhl  have  been  a  coikMusivc  annvver 
to  the  exclusive  claim  of  the  Spaniard.-w,  now  wilh  the 
lime  to  (<nppiy  tliat  deHciency,  and  .Mr.  I'ilt  the  I'lllesi 
per*on  for  that  purpose.  Hut  he  said  that '•  iIk!  Hri- 
tirih  Mthjectf  had  been  forcibly  interrupted  in  a  trnjfic'' 
(not  the  Kiiii;,  in  ii  right  of  Mirrreignty.)  He  asserted 
that  his  eountryiiien  had  "ari^'A«  to  triiile,  (not  totlie 
soil.)  in  places  to  which  no  country  could  claim  an 
c.xclusivi!  rijjht  of  commcrrf  and  ni'wV'i'io/i,'"  (not  of 
ftovereifftili).)  Here,  then,  we  find  this  acnle  ininisli.-r 
adunltiii);.  totis  virihus,  that  Great  liritain  had  no  title 
to  the  sovereignty  of  Oregon  ;  but,  adniittinj?  the  title 
to  the  sovereignly  thereto  to  be  in  Sjmin,  lie  set 
up  a  "  ri^ht  of  trade  and  traj/ic"  in  liis  countrymen. 

Air.  Kox  followed  Mr.  I'itI,  and  aijreed  with  htm 
in  these  views.  Not  a  member  of  either  house  of 
Parliament  made  the  slightest  snggesiion  to  the  con- 
trary, and  an  address,  correspondiiifj  with  the.  mes- 
sage, pa.sscd  without  a  dissenting  voice.  From  lliese 
proceedings,  it  is  inferred  that  theUritish  Parliament 
confessed  that  Spain  had  an  exclusive  title  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Oregon. 

A  million  of  |v)unds  sterling  were  voted  to  corry 
into  execution  warlike  preparpri(,ii.s  to  support  this 
trade. 

In  the  mean  time,  the   Hri  lister  sent  Mr. 

Fitzherbert  to  Madrid,  to  b  ..M'  ..a  the  Spaniards. 
But  stil.l  no  Haim  of  title  to  the  sovereignty  of  Oregon 
way.  asserted,  in  answer  to  that  of  the  Spaniards  to 
the  •.rclusive  right  by  virtue  of  their  prior  discovery. 
The  claim  of  a  right  to  land  and  build  houses  for  the 
purpobes  of  trade,  at  Nootka  Sound,  vnfart  of  Oregon 
'1  erriiory,  (urfounded  as  we  shall  presently  show  that 
to  be,)  is  an  acknowledgment  of  the  want  4f  a  title 
to  the  sovereignty  to  the  whole.  If  they  had  title  to 
the  sovereignty  of  the  wholt  territory,  why  was  it 
not  disclosed,  as  it  would  have  been  a  sufficient  war- 
rant for  occupying  apart?  No  reason  can  be  assign- 
ed, except  the  consciousness  that  none  then  existed  ; 
and  yet  Kiigland  has  the  eflronlery  now  to  as.sert  a 
title  by  virtue  of  a  discovery  prior  to  that  discussion, 
in  point  of  time. 

So  the  ground  upon  which  the  right  lo  tradt  was 
made,  viz.,  one  which  admitted  the  exclusivi'.  right  of 
sovereignty  in  Spain  to  Oregon,  is  proof  that  England, 
at  that  period,  when  the  facts  were  all  fresh  in  men's 
memories,  did  not  venture  upon  a  claim  so  unfound- 
ed ;  but  which  they  now  set  forth.  But  no  nation  or 
individual  is  allowed  thus  to  blow  hot  and  cold,  (as 
it  is  allied,)  or  to  set  up  contradictory  claims.  From 
all  which  it  plainly  appears  that  Great  Britain  never 
had  any  right  to  Oregon,  by  discovery  prior  to  that  of 
Spain,  under  whom  we  claim. 

But  thirdly,  on  the  4th  of  June,  1790,  the  Spa- 
nish government  published  a  declaration  or  manifes- 
to, directed  to  all  European  Courts,  setting  forth 
their  exclusive  right  of  sovereignty  to  Oregtm  terri- 
tory, founded  upon  their  prior  discovery.    This  ma- 


nifesto was  never  roniradieted  or  denied  by  (Ireat 
Hrilaiii,  either  publicly  or  privately,  that  has  ever 
been  known  or  heard.  Hence,  it  would  follow  thai, 
even  if  England  had  hiid  a  right  of  sovereignty,  by 
o  discovery  prior  to  those  of  Ihe  Spaniards  alKivo 
cited,  (which  is  not  admitted,)  that  it  has  been  almo- 
lutely  and  irretrievably  abandoned  by  them  (Ih/s  Hri- 
tisli)  so  far  as  regards  the  Fnited  States,  who  are  n 
bona  fide  purchaser  of  Oregon.  When  a  claim  to 
anything  is  publicly  made,  nature  prompts  those  who 
have  connicling  ones  to  make  them  kno>vn  ;  hence, 
silence  is  construed  into  an  aban<hiiiinent  of  right,  and 
an  acquiespunre  in  the  conflicting  claim  made  pub- 
lic ;  and  what  is  onre  formally  abandoned  can  never 
be  revived,  especially  to  the  prejudice  of  a  bona 
fide  purchaser.  Had  the  claims  of  England  and  Spain 
been  originally  equal,  ihe  law  of  nations,  in  deciding 
between  lOiigliUid  and  the  I'liiled  Slates,  Would  pre- 
fer the  latter,  who  have  been  guilty  of  no  latches, 
to  the  former,  who  have  been  guilty  of  latches.  So 
thai,  were  it  admitted  itmt  England  had  made  the 
discovery  of  Oregon  prior  to  Spain,  (which  is  <le- 
nied,)  yet,  inasmuch  lis  Great  Britain  admitted  the 
prior  discovery  set  forth  by  Spain  in  their  manifesto, 
and  not  denied  at  the  time,  the  I'nited  Slates,  as  as- 
signee of  Sptt'ii,  may  now  claim  the  sovereignty  of 
thai  territory  by  a  more  perfect  title.  The  principlt» 
of  the  law  of  nations,  upon  which  this  is  founded, 
will  not  and  cannot  be  denied. 

Having  thus  shown  that  (jreat  Britain  has  no  title 
to  the  sovereignty  of  Oregon  Territory,  let  us  exa- 
mine more  particularly  wAat  rvas  advanced  by  her 
in  regard  to  Nootka  Sound. 

The  British  Government  might  have  had  a  right  of 
sovereignty  to  Nootka  Sound,  in  particular,  without 
having  any  right  of  sovereignty  to  Oregon  Territory, 
in  general;  but,  had  that  been  the  case,  it  would 
have  been  distinctly  stated,  iiia-smuch  as  that  partial 
right  of  sovereignty  would  have  been  an  answer  to 
the  claim  of  sovereignty  to  the  whole  territory  by 
Spain ;  and  also,  that  right  of  partial  sovereignty 
would  have  been  greater  than  the  right  of  trrule  and 
traffic  which  was  complained  of  being  invaded,  and 
which  would  therefore  have  been  merged  therein. 
But  Mr.  Pitt's  complaints  are  of  the  "  ships'^  having 
been  taken,  not  the  "  land."  In  calling  in  question 
Spain's  e.rclusive  claims,  he  denies  those  only  which 
relate  to  the  "  trade,"  "  claims  (says  Mr.  Pitt)  which 
are  totally  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  independ. 
ent  navigators  to  lands ;  which,  being  before  iinappro- 
pricUed,  they  should  maJce  their  own  by  occupancy  and 
labor." 

The  "  rights"  of  "  independent  navigators."  Who 
are  "  independent  navigators  ?"  Neither  Mr.  Pitt  nor 
his  historian  has  condescended  to  inform  us.  Of  what 
are  they  independent  ?  Of  the  law  of  nations?  "Inde- 
pendent" (Johnson  says)  is  "not  supported  by  any 
other" — " not  controlled,"  (South) — "not  relating  to 
any  superior  power,"  (Bentley).  "  Independent  navi- 
gators" must  then  be  those  "gentlemen  of  the  sea," 
who  roam  about  the  world  uncontrolled,  holding 
themselves  responsible  to  no  superior  power; 
the  same  who,  Blackstone  tells  us,  are  "  Host  is 
humani  generif,"  in  vulgar  language,  ^^ pirates." 
But  It  seems  that  these  "  independent  navigators" 
have  "rights."  Indeed!  The  law  teaches  that  there 
is  no  right  without  a  corresponding  duty;  hence  those 


• 


OREGON    TERRITORY. 


who  nrkimwledne  no  iliitif.i  can  rlnim  no  riiihts.  To 
enjoy  ri(jlit«  nnd  perform  (Inlie*  impliui*  responitiliili- 
tien,  ("doppiiilencn'")  but  he  who  Im  "  iiulepeiiilcnt,'' 
(irresivinoihle,)  Pun  know  ncilher  the  one  nor  the 
'ilhff.  Hut  the  "  right"  of  the«u  "  independent  nn- 
vi|liitori«"  in  to  lanils!  How  were  thoy  ooquired  ? 
By  prior  discovery?  No.  Bycc»aiou?  No.  By  «. it- 
quest?  No.  The  right  of  thesi- uidependent  nuviga- 
tors  wnn  "  to  land  they  tnutil  mnJce  their  own  by  ocru- 
fnnry  ntnl  Itihnr.''^  "  Oecupnnry  is  the  taking  po.ssen- 
i^ion  of  those  tilings  which  before  hehinntd  to  iKibuJy." 
(Ulnck-itont!.)  Hut  the  (locnpiinry  of  thcBe  independ- 
ent navigators  wa.s  "the  teiziug  upon  what  before 
belonged  to  snin^hmlyV  ^•Qiiml  nuUiux  est,  id  ratiime. 
nnliirall  itmipriiiii  conceilitur"  (siiy*  llie  law  nf  na- 
tions;) but  it  wouhl  be  iinpos.siblu  so  to  transiutc  tliis 
iiiaxitn  n*  to  justify  the  Euglislniuin  who  trespassed 
on  the  soil  and  riu'lit  of  sovereignly  wliicli  tlie  Spa- 
niards had  gained  by  tlieir  prior  discovery  of  Oregon. 

No  such  sidiordiiuite  or  iiiterhicutory  ri'tf/it  of  trade 
Mv\  trnjfic  upon  ground  to  which  auollier  luis  a  right 
of  s'»-iTfii;iily  is  known  to  the  huv.  If  the  land  be- 
fore belonged  to  nobody,  the  di.scovery  and  taking  pos- 
seagiim  conferred  the  rightist  s^overcigiUy;  but  if  they 
previ  lU.^ly  belonged  to  anybody,  the  entry  upon  them 
to  trade  or  trufTie  was  tortuous,  and  no  right,  of  any 
kind  was  thereby  acquired. 

Nor  is  the  condition  of  such  trespossei's  at  all  im- 
proved by  any  labor  they  may  perform  upon  the  loiids, 
as  Mr.  Pitt's  language  would  seem  to  imply.  On  the 
contrary,  each  new  act  performed  on  the  soil  is  a  con- 
tiiumtion  of  the  trespass;  and  is  by  the  law  referred 
back  to  the  tortuous  entry,  so  that  these  Knglish  intru- 
ders were  not  only  trespassers  ab  initio,  but  nd  nietas. 
Hut  perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  Mr.  Pitt  ipialified  the 
rights  of  lliese  independent  navigators  to  lauds  tliere- 
toiore  uiinppropriati'd.  If  so,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
inquire  what  was  meant  by  "unappropriated." 

It  not  being  a  legal  term,  its  meaning  must  be 
souglit  lor  in  ordinary  dictionaries.  To  "nppropriate" 
is  to  "claim,"  (.Milton;)  "to  consign  to  some  use," 
(Hooker.)  Now,  the  Spaniards  liwl  elaimtd  Nootka 
Sound;  it  was  not,  therefore,  "  unappropriated." 
They  had  also  assigned  it  to  some  use,  viz.,  to  the  use 
of  themselves  and  the'r-  countrymen.  If  Mr.  Pit< 
meant  by  it  being  "unappropriated,"  that  no  HttU- 
imiit  had  been  made  thereon,  then  the  question  re- 
curs, whether  o  title  t#  sovereignty,  by  virtue  nf  prior 
discovery,  can  be  Inst  by  any  delay  of  settlement, 
short  of  presumption  that  the  title  was  abandoned- 
And  upon  this  question,  the  conduct  of  Piiigland  in 
regard  to  the  Falkland  Islands  and  the  Province  of 
New  York,  would  seem  to  preclude  tlie  necessity  of 
present  discussion. 

When  Mr.  Fitzherbcrt  arrived  at  Madrid,  and  the 
Spaniar<ls  insisted  upon  their  right  to  Noolka  Sound) 
as  part  of  Oregon,  which  they  had  first  discovered 
and  taken  posse.ssion  o*",  he  reiterated  the  sophistry  of 
Mr. Pill.  "Whatever  is  co/nmnn,  (said  this  Ambas- 
sador.) belongs  to  the  '  first  occupier.'  "  The  Spa- 
niards an.swered,  that  was  onc«  coniipon,  ceased  to  be 
s:),  uiul  became  exclusive  property  by  prior  discovery 
and  taking  of  possession.  "  Every  nation,  (sjiid  the 
Ambassador,)  has  a  right  to  appropriate  whatever 
it  can  aequirf,  without  trespassing  upon  the  pre- 
vious appropriations  of  others."  Ergo,  the  Bri- 
tish   had   a    right    to   seize    upon    Nootka    Sound, 


which  had  been  previiinsly  appropriated  I  This  waa 
the  (liploinntir  logic!  It  is  marvellous  how  such  ii 
conclusion  could  ever  have  been  allowed  ;  but  the 
Knglish  historian,  Bisselt,  explains  it.  ■'  This  lan- 
guage, (he  says,)  of  Jlritish  justice  deiimndiiig 
what  British  power  could  so  easily  enforce  from  any 
aggressor  that  dared  to  provoke  its  vengeance,  wiw 
(as  well  it  might  be)  consiilered  haughty  nnd  men- 
acing'' by  the  Spaniards.  Hut  Great  Hriluiu  had  16.S 
ships  of  the  line,  with  which  Spoiii  was  unable  U» 
contend;  nnd  France,  to  whom  she  iqiplied,  was  un- 
able to  afford  her  any  ossisuinee.  Thus  liie  Spaniards 
Were  defrauded  and  robbed  of  their  rights.  "And 
(says  the  historian)  other  powers  Wire  taught  that 
British  subjects  (even  wlu'ii  acting  as  trespassers) 
were  not  to  be  molested  with  impunity." 

From  all  which  it  is  obvious  that  Great  Britain 
never  had  any  title  to  the  soveri'iguly  of  Oregon  by 
right  of  prior  discovery.  That  she  never  bad  any  by 
cession  from  the  Spaniards  will  be  e<|ually  apparent 
lo  any  unprejudiced  person  who  will  examine  llio 
subject.  All  that  she  demanded  of  Spain  was  ••  a 
right  of  trajfic  niul  tradi  ,''  and  thai  she  obtained  no 
more,  is  proved  not  only  by  the  words  of  the  cession 
itself,  (which  appears  to  have  been  very  carefully 
drawn,  with  the  view  of  excluding  therefrom  all 
subsequent  inference  that  a  right  of  sovereignly  was 
therein  coiilained,)  but  also,  from  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  Mr.  Fox,  in  the  British  Purliaineiit,  when 
this  Treaty  of  Cession  was  under  consideration,  that 
nothinif  had  been  ntquired,  and  the  congratulatory  vote 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  "  an  ailiqunte  repa- 
ration had  been  provided  for  the  violence  which  was 
committed  at  Nootka,  and  the  securily  to  his  Majes- 
ty's subjects  of  the  fj-tTC(*«  of  their  nai'ifintion,  com- 
merce and  fisherifs,  in  those  parts  of  the  world,  which 
were  the  subjects  of  discussion.'" 

But,  fourthly.  The  United  States  has  a  title  to  Ore- 
gon Territory  by  virtue  of  her  oton  discoveries  and 
sctilement. 

It  is  a  well  known  principle  of  the  Law  of  Na- 
tions, in  regard  tc)  discovery,  that  the  nation  who 
discovers  the  iiunith  of  a  river  is  entitled  lo  the  so- 
vereignly to  all  the  land  which  is  watered  by  such 
river,  its  tributaries  and  head  waters. 

In  lOt-'O,  Mr.  De  La  I<alle,  a  Frenchman,  navigated 
the  Mississippi  river  from  Canada  to  lis  mouth.  In 
virtue  whereof,  France  cliiiiiied  the  sovereignly 
to  liiuiisiaiia,  on  both  sides  of  tlio  river,  from  tlic 
Gulf  of  Mexico  lo  the  I!)"  of  laliliule.  And  this  title 
of  France  was  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain,  in 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  of  1713,  and  of  Versailles,  in 
17(53. 

In  1702,  Captain  Gray,  of  the  American  ship  "  Co- 
lumbia,'' discovered  the  Columbia  river,  which  he 
named  after  hissliip.  He  landed,  held  an  intercourse 
with  the  natives,  wlio  had  never  before  seen  a  white 
man  or  a  ship. 

In  1J:'(M,  Lewis  and  Clarke,  in  the  employ  of  the 
United  Slates,  a.scended  the  Mis-souri,  passed  the 
Rocky  Mountains — up  to  that  time  une.xplored  by  a 
white  man — discovered  and  explored  the  head  waters 
of  Ilie  Coliinibia  River — and  followe<l  that  River 
down  to  its  mouth  ;  where  they  passed  the  winter  of 
180.'>-6. 

In  1808,  the  American  Missouri  Fur  Company  esta- 


A   LECTfRK  ON    THE 


kliihed  nevenil  IriuliiiR  piMtn,  mic  on  thf  River  Lvwin, 
n  liniiic'h  i>(  ill).'  Ciiliiiiiliiii. 

Ill  |H||,  AsiDi'iu  wiiN  riiiiiiilu.l,  at  ilic  mouth  of  ilif. 
Coliiiiihiii  Kivur,  liy  Mr.  Joliii  Jacob  Aslor,  of  New 
York. 

Ill  Dec'uinlier,  l^lf),  Aitnria  wnt  capiurud  li)  tlic 
llritiHli  HliHi|i-or-wur,  Knccooii,  Cniitiiiii  HInke. 

liy  the  Trculy  ol'  (ilieiil,  it  wiu  iiKri-t'il  lliiit  nil 
Terrilorit!*,  Ac,  mkeii  liy  fillier  piirly  from  Iho 
other,  iliiriiig  the  Wiir,  glumld  liu  ru»torcd  wiilumi 
delay. 

Astoriii  \vn«  reslori'il  iiii-  lih  of  Octoher,  lt*lH. 

Hy  virtue  of  the  iihovc  iiiuiilioiii'il  dif»covory,  settle- 
ini-iil  Hiid  rt!Htoriilii>ii,  thu  Uiiili-d  Sinti-s,  without  the 
nid  of  iiiiy  othi^r  tillui,  Imvuik  right  to  ihu  soveieigiity 
uiid  soil  of  Ort'ijoii  Territory. 

Great  liritaiii  preteiuU  to  «ny  that  Alexander  Me- 
Kiii!iey,  one  of  their  .■'ulijerli',  di.^covered  a  north 
lirnnrh  of  the  Colnmhia  Uiver  prior  to  our  dinrovo- 
nes;  hut  MrKiiixey  liim.'stHf  han  xaid  Ihat  hin  dis- 
covery wiw  ill  May,  I7ii:).  whereas  that  of  Capuiin 
(jray  wa.*  in  \'!K;  and  if  any  iiM|ia:lial  person  will 
read  McKiiiHey':)  areonnt,  he  will  he  conviiieed  that 
the  river  he  saw  wan  mil  a  liead  water  of  the  Coliiin- 
l)la.  [See  Report  of  Coininittee  on  Military  Aflairs, 
made  to  27th  Coiigien.*,  the  tliird  oession,  No.  HI,  p. 
17]  They  also  contend  Ihat  Mr.  Thompson,  Asinmo- 
mer,  of  the  Northwest  Fur  Company,  e.slalilif^lied 
poAiR  among  the  Klathejids  and  Kootanie  Trilies  of 
Indiana,  on  the  head  waters  or  main  hranrh  of  the 
Coliimhin,  in  tlie  snnie  and  suhxfqumt  years,  a.»  the 
discovery  of  Lewis  and  Clarke,  flut  when  ilie  evi- 
denre  iipiin  this  point  in  examined,  it  turns  out  t)ial 
Lewis  and  Clarke  reaehed  the  I'aeifie  Ocean.  aUer 
exploring  the  Colmnhia  Uiver,  on  the  l.^lh  Novem- 
ber, ls{»l,  aiwl  thai  the  earliest  post  e-tahlished  hy 
Mr.  'I'lioinpsdii  was  in  the  spring  of  I'-fMJ.  Greil  Hri- 
taiii,  well  knowing  that  she  had  no  title  to  the  sove- 
reignty of  Oregon,  proposed  to  the  United  States  to 
<//ei(/.  llie  7Vrri(((rj/ helweeii  them,  making  the  Co- 
lnmhia River  the  houndary;  they(lhe  Uritish)  lakirg 
the  (viuiilry  norlh  and  west  of  lliat  line,  and  leaving 
the  Americans  ihe  other  side.  To  this  proposiiidn 
our  Ministers  dissented.  The  true  motiieu  never 
con.senis  to  divide  the  child  ! 


PART  II. 

Having  in  a  former  essay  shown  that  the  title  to 
the  sovereignly  of  Oregon  is  in  the  Iniled  States,  1 
proceeil  lo  examine  the  two  remaining  iiuestions,  viz: 
What  are  its  capacities  and  value  to  our  country'  And 
the  necessity  of  an  iiiiiuediale  settlement  of  it  from 
the  Slates. 

Oregon  Territory  holds  out  to  tlie  American  ciii- 
zen  tveiy  iiulueement  to  settle.  The  valleys  of  the 
Columhia  river  and  its  trilmtai  ies  alone  are  estimaled 
at  3.50  scpiare  miles.  The  soil  is  fruitful,  the  cli- 
mate moderate,  anil  the  mountains  by  which  Ihey  are 
iHiunded  on  the  east  are  Ulled  with  mineral  wealth. 
The  inoulh  of  the  Columbia  river  is  the  finest  site  in 
the  known  world  for  a  commercial  city.  It  is  within 
ten  days'  sail  and  within  six  days'  steamboat  iiavigu. 
lion  of  the  Sandwich  IslaiiiU,  and  within  lliirty  days, 
over  an  unrullled  ocean,  of  Canton.  In  the  hands  of 
a  free  and  enterprising  people  there  is  scarcely  any 
limit  to  the  opulence  of  such  a  city.  To  the  United 
Stales  it  would  be  a  most  hivaluable  emporium.    It 


would  insure  n  siciidy  market  for  our  iiirreaxing  mn- 
inifaclures;  it  would  ojmii  an  unli.  Minded  mart  for  our 
aKricnItnial  priHiiieiioiis;  and  it  would  aeeure  lo  u» 
Ihe  fur  trade  of  the  West,  of  which  we  have  been 
so  long,  siirrepliiioiisly,  deprived  by  the  cor|>oraled 
agent  of  a  rival  iialion  ;  and  the  lumber  triule,  which 
V.  onid  of  llsidf  be  siiirieient  In  pay  all  the  expeuses 
of  traii-it  and  setllemeiil,  and  by  eiiiililiiig  us,  llirough 
that  direct  route,  lo  cxchangH  Ihe  boiindiesn  produce  of 
the  lead  mines  of  .Missouri  for  the  teas  ami  silks  of 
China,  instead  of  transporiiiig  lliem  to  the  Athinlic 
Slates,  anil  tliunce  to  the  Kasl  Indies,  we  woulil  not 
only  supply  ourselves,  bill  all  the  rest  of  ihe  world, 
with  these  valuable  commodities.  Circnt  Ilrilain,  a* 
long  ago  as  I7M),  valued  the  •' Irul,  and  IniJ/ir"  of 
NcMiika  Soiniil  so  highly,  thai  her  I'arliiiineiit  voled  a 
inillio  •.  if  pounds  sterling  to  secure  llicin|  and  we 
are  lold  in  A.'doria,  (page  -i'lO,  ad  vol.,)  tliat  ihe  goods 
taken  onboard  an  Aiiiericaii  vessel  at  .New  York, 
which  cost  there  only  $J3,00(»,  were  excliimged  on 
this  Northwest  coa-I  for  furs,  for  which  Ihe  ciiiilaiii 
WHS  iilfercd,  in  Ciinlon,  .'*l.")li.(llM) ;  and  llial,  hail  he 
accepted  this  oflTer,  and  laid  out  Ihe  amount  in  Chi- 
nese goods,  they  Would  have  brought,  in  New  York, 
8.1(MI,(I(KI. 

The  editor  of  a  respectable  Englisli  periodical, 
whose  work  is  eagerly  sought  after  and  extensively 
read  in  this  country,  Jvlinburg  Review.)  pronoiiiice« 
all  uttempts  to  settle  Oregon  from  the  Allanlie  States 
to  be  i;/i;«).<.mW»?.  '•However  the  political  queslioii 
between  Kngland  and  America,  as  to  the  ownersliip 
of  Oreg  III  may  be  decided,  (says  this  editor,)  Oregon 
never  cna  he  ri)lonizrd  over  land  from  the  Easttrn 
States."  Now  if  this  is  the  case,  it  is  worse  thiui 
useless  lo  make  the  present  proposition,  which,  by 
holding  out  false  induceinenls  lo  accomplish  ends  be- 
yond our  reach,  wiuild  unnecessarily  disliirbthe  pub- 
lic traaquiUily.  Hut  is  it  the  c-ise  ?  Or  is  this  writer, 
who  no  doubt  acts  under  the  direction  of  the  Uritish 
Cabinet,  endeavoring  to  blind  us,  and  withdraw  our 
attention  from  a  lucrative  trade,  ihat  bis  own  conn- 
irymen  may,  in  ihe  mean  time,  reap  the  golden  ad- 
vantages? Hi;  remarks; — "In  the  ineun  lime,  the  long 
line  of  coast  (of  Oregon)  invites  emigration  from  the 
overjieoplid  shores  of  Ihe  ulit  world  (Kngliuid.)  When 
once  Ihe  Isthmus  of  Darieii  is  rendered  traversable 
(he  i)roceeds)  the  voyage  will  be  easier  and  shorter 
lliiui  iliat  to  Australia,  which  30,000  o/  our  country- 
men have  made  in  a  single  year.  Let  u.<  not  then  (he 
concludes)  under  the  idle  persuasion  that  we  have 
colonies  enough  ;  that  it  is  mere  labor  in  vain  to  scat- 
ter the  seed  of  future  nations  over  the  oarlh  ;  that  it 
is  but  troiilile  and  expense  to  govern  them.  If  there 
is  luiy  one  thing  on  which  the  inaintemmce  of  that 
ptrilous greatness  to  which  We  huv-e  attained  depends 
more  Hum  all  the  rest,  it  is  colonizaiion,  the  opening 
of  new  markets,  the  creation  of  new  customers.  It 
is  qnile  true  that  the  great  fields  of  emigration  in  Ca- 
nada and  Australia  promise  room  enough  fir  more 
than  we  can  send.  liut  the  worst  and  commonest  er- 
ror resiiecling  cohinization  is  to  regard  it  merely  as 
ihal  which  it  can  never  be — a  mode  of  checking  tlie 
increase  of  our  people.  What  we  want  is  not  to 
draw  oiT  driblets  from  our  teeming  multitudes,  but  to 
found  M'.ti' imriim*  of  commercial  allies:.  And  in  this 
view  every  new  colony  founded,  far  from  divertiiiji 
strength  from  the  older  ones,  infuses  into  them  add:- 
tiunul  vigor.    To  them,  as  well  as  lo  the  mo'.htr 


OREriON    TEKKITORV. 


irreamnft  tnn- 
(I  iiiurl  for  our 
I  diH'iire  to  \i» 
hve  liiive  \tevn 
ic  c'or|)<>ritl<Ml 
■  iriiile,  wliicli 
lliu  expeuHca 
iiX  M*,  through 
irsuproilut'e  of 
»  uml  Kjlkw  of 
I  tliH  Atliuitic 
vvc  would  lioi 
of  tlio  worUI, 
■ai  Hriiiiiii,  n» 
IM>I  IriiJJtr'^  of 
jiiiiiMit  voivil  a 
liciii  j  mill  we 
tliat  lliu  gootU 
111  New  York, 
t'Xi'liiuiKed  on 
I'll  iliR  ('ii|itaiu 
1  llmt,  hail  he 
iiuouut  iu  Chi- 
iii  New  York, 

IhIi   puriodicul, 

lid  uxteiwively 

,v,)  |)roiioiiiii'L'« 

Alluutic,  Stiiles 

itii'iil  (pieslioii 

tlie  ownership 

jdilor.)  Oregon 

Mil   the  Eusltrn 

is   worse  thiui 

ion.  wliii'li,  liy 

iplisli  eiulH  be- 

liiiliirlitlie  pub- 

r  is  this  writer, 

of  the  British 

witlidniw  our 

his  own  coun- 

the  gohU'ii  nil- 

1  lime,  the  loii^ 

rutiou  fr<mi  the 

Uliuid.)    \Vlieii 

red  triiversiible 

ier  and  shorter 

nf  our  cuitntnj- 

us  not  tlien  (he 

ihui  we  luive 
ill  vain  tosent- 
i  earth  ;  that  it 
hem.  If  tliere 
teiiauce  of  that 
ttaiiied  depends 
on,  tlie  opening? 
r  cusloiners.  It 
iiigration  in  Ca- 
lough  fir  more 
I  coiinnouesl  er- 
rd  it  merely  as 
if  cheeking  tlie 

want  i«  not  to 
ultitudes,  but  to 
s.    And  ill  this 

from  diverlinji 
into  them  adii:- 

10  the  mo '.her 


rininiry,  it  ojiftt^  a  nr}i'  mnrkit.  It  form*  a  hup  link 
III  the  chain  along  which  our  coinnicrcial  iiiicrcom- 
iiiunicalioii  in  carried,  loiicliiiig  and  beueritiiig  t  "«ry 
point  of  the  line  an  it  panncn.  Thiin  inform  duy», 
the  prosperity  of  the  \Ve«l  Imlia  NlaiuU  wa«  the 
great  mimulun  to  llm  peopling  of  North  .Xmerica. 
The  newer  colony  of  Canada  ha*  HoiiriHlixd  Ihroiigh 
UK  connection  with  our  settlements  in  the  SlatR*  ;  the 
nuirket  of  New  Zealand  will  excite  production  in 
Australia.  Tiik  t'TTKRMOfT  poiitionh  of  tiik  parth 
AiiKoi-R  iMiKRirANi'i! ;  Ici  US  iiot  tlirow  it  awiiy  ill 
mere  siipineiiesii,  or  in  deference  to  the  wise  cnnclii- 
HioiiR  of  Ihiwe  migen  of  the  discouraging  school,  who, 
had  they  lieeii  listened  to,  would  have  checked,  one 
by  one,  nil  the  enierprisefl  which  have  changed  the 
face  of  the  world  in  the  lust  thirty  yearH." 

Now  it  is  rei«pecifiilly  submitted,  that  upon  reading 
this  o|iiiiion  of  this  Kiiglish  eilitor,  who  (as  I  pre- 
Siiiiie)  is  only  proniulgaliiig  the  opinions  of  the  II  :- 
tish  Ministers,  it  is  diiricnlt  to  suppress  n  Mt^jiirinn 
that  the  itssortion  that  '•  Oregon  run  never  be  settled 
from  the  Atlantic  States,"  was  intended  to  add  an- 
other to  the  many  delays  we  have  siilfercd.  the  bet- 
ter to  enable  thai  rival  nation  to  seize  upon  and  se- 
cure the  prize.  Diit  as  the  settlemeni  is  a  circnin- 
stance  of  the  iilir.'  t  iiiipoilaiice,  lei  us  suppress  this 
siispiiMoii,  and  er.niniue  coolly  and  deliberately  the 
reasons  he  gives  for  having  come  to  ihis  conclusion. 

First — the  ili^tanri'. 

The  traveller  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific 
ha»  (says  this  Kditor^  i  pass  over  several  disiiiiet  re- 
gions— Isl,  a  region  of  two  or  three  hundred  miles  in 
length,  occupied  by  the  Stales  of  Missouri,  Arkansas 
ami  Iowa.  '2d,  A  region  of  two  or  three  hundred 
miles,  inhabiled  by  the  Choctaws,  the  Cherokees  and 
the  Creeks.  3d,  A  desert  of  six  or  seven  hundred 
miles,  of  which  1(H)  is  Prairie  land,  and  3(K)directly 
eu.st  of  the  Rocky  Mininiains  i«  strictly  a  desert.  4th, 
The  |{oeky  Mountains,  (no  distance  given,)  and  5lti, 
From  the  Rocky  Mountains  over  a  desert  country  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river,  (no  distance  given.) 
but  this  diAtaiice,  which,  to  the  mind  of  this  Islniuler, 
appear*  to  be  intrrminnble.,  will  form  no  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  the  hardy,  migratory  son*  of  the  Colum- 
bian Continent,  especially  as  we  live  in  an  age  of 
steamboats  luid  railroads,  by  the  introduction  of  which 
distance  is  nearly  annihilntnl.  Lewis  and  Clarke 
crossed  llie  Rocky  Mountains  in  nlxmt  Int.  47°,  by  a 
very  circuitous  route.  By  the  one  taken  by  Mr. 
T()wnseiid,  of  this  city,  and  his  party,  in  about  lat. 
43"',  the  whole  distance  does  not  appear  to  be  more 
Hum  from  1800  to '2(MH)  miles ;  and  even  </i/«  will,  no 
doubt,  be  diminished  by  succeeding  travellers. 

The  second  obstacle  in  the  way  of  settling  Oregon 
from  the  States  (in  the  opinion  of  this  f^nglish  editor 
and  Ills  employers,  the  British  ministers)  arises  out  of 
the  ditiiculties  of  transit ;  these  he  considers  under 
tiiree  distinct  heads,  and  they  shall  be  examined  in 
the  same  order.  Ist.  The  difTieulties  presented  by 
tlie  face  of  the  country.  He  admits  thn  in  regard  of 
the  first  two  or  three  hundred  miles,  that  through 
Missouri,  Arkansas  or  Iowa,  that  the  country  is  made 
up  of  Prairie  and  Forest  laiuU,  with  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  former  than  the  latter,  and  that  it  presents 
nothing  of  an  extraordinary  character  which  is  cal- 
I  elated  to  impede  travelling. 

As  to  the  second  region,  of  two  or  three  hundred 


miles,  being  that  occii|ned  by  the  friendly  Iiidmiis.  it 
is  also  iidmitled  that  it  consists  of  wile  plahis,  diver- 
sified vvilh  range*  of  hills,  anil  thai  it  is  ea»y  I'f  tran- 
sit. In  regard  to  the  jiiiV,  Mr.  I'arnham  remarks, 
that  it  is  a  deep  alluvial,  capable  of  priHiiiciiig  the 
most  abunilaiil  cro|M  of  ihe  grains  tuid  vegetables  that 
grow  in  such  latitudes. 

Then  comes  the  third  region,  the  desert,  the  first 
IIKI  miles  of  which  i«  prairie.  Tliis  region,  except  ii 
few  sjvils  on  the  JKirdcrsof  rivers,  is  declared  to  be 
incapniile  fnrtvrr  {\(  M\y  fixtd  .leltleinenl.  I.ct  us  com- 
pare this  opinion  with  his  description.  '•  Seen  during 
Ihe  hpiliig  and  Summer,  it  is  (he  says)  a  delightful 
land— a  land  of  grass  and  llowers— with  a  bright  sky 
and  an  elastic  air,  diversifitd  with  little  patches  of 
wihhI,  [lictiiresquely,  here  and  there  (every  where) 
to  relieve  the  eye  friun  the  monotony  of  the  plains — 
traversed  by  four  s|leiidid  rivers,  the  Red,  the  Ar- 
kansas, the  Platte  and  the  .Missouri."  What  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  desert  I  Of  a  desert  (rtc»pnW»'/(»rcivr  of 
fired  Httlement!  Many  a  poor  inhaliitaiit  of  Ku- 
rope  would  be  tliaiikt'ul  to  be  l  i.  lanted  to  fuck 
n  diiert!  lint  strange  to  relate,  tdi  .ueudo-uniil- 
habitable  reifimi  is,  according  to  his  o\\  ii  confessiou, 
already  partially  iiiliabited.  '•  li  'e  and  there  (he 
says)  around  the  posts  establiaheil  by  ir.iding  compa- 
nies oil  the  banks  of  rivers,  i  Tew  fields  have  been 
cultivated,  and  lianilels  (small  villages)  have  been 
foi  iiied  by  enterprising  Americans,  who  find  abundant 
ciisioni  for  their  proibieticiis  from  various  parties 
vliich  roam  over  the  wildtniess"  Nor  does  it 
r»  (juire  the  power  of  prophecy  for  us  to  predict 
that  assiHiiias  the  I'liited  States  shall  have  tixed 
military  posts  at  proper  distances,  than  the  whole 
mute  will  be  settled  in  like  manner  by  the  sume 
people. 

Advunchig  still  further,  you  come  to  the  desert, 
properly  so  called,  of  which  he  has  drawn  up  a  highly 
wrought,  and,  in  some  respects,  inaccurate  descrip- 
tion j  but  even  this  inhospitable  region,  he  admits, 
is  not  without  its  redeeming  features— /r«i(/ii/  ridges 
and  fcattered  spots  of  fertility.  I  cuiinot  withdiund 
the  temptation  to  read  to  you  Mr.  Famham's  descrip- 
tion of  some  of  these  places  on  both  sides  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  that  you  may  judge  how  fur  tite 
assertion  is  gratuitous,  that  the  desert  can  never  be- 
come a  place  of  fixed  settlement. 

Old  Parle  lies  in  the  valley  of  Grand  river,  whicii 
is  a  branch  of  the  Colorado  of  the  West.  It  is  liere 
(says  Farnham)  a  transparent  stream,  300  yards 
wide,  0  to  10  feet  deep,  and  a  current  of  (J  miles  an 
hour.  The  valleys  contain  extensive  meadows 
and  woodlands,  filled  with  antelopes,  deer,  hares, 
grouse,  wild  turkeys,  geese  luid  ducks. — page  51. 

Tumbleton  Park,  near  the  Three  Bates,  and  also  in 
the  valley  of  Grand  river,  ■•  is  a  beautiful  suviuuuih, 
with  groves  of  pine,  spruce,  fir  and  oak." 

The  glades  were  splendid — many  were,  when  he 
pa<Med,  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of  timirthy  or 
herd  grass  and  red  top  in  blo8.som.  The  mountain 
flax  covered  acres  as  densely  as  it  usually  stands  in 
cultivated  fields.  The  tame  grasses  of  Europe,  all 
that  are  valuable  for  stock,  the  best  and  most  sought 
after  by  every  intelligent  farmer  in  Christendom,  are 
there  indigenous. — p.  56. 

At   Fort  David  Crocket,   in  the  valley  of  Green 


10 


A    LEOTfRE    ON    THK 


river,  rich  mountain  graces  grow  wild  all  winter. — 
p.  59. 

The  vicinity  of  Great  Bear  river  will,  (he  fays,) 
ill  the  course  of  time,  l)ec()me  one  of  the  mo«t  pros- 
perous abode*  of  cultivated  life.— p.  70  The  Soila 
Springs,  from  the  healthiness  and  bcabty  of  the  lo- 
cality and  the  magnificence  of  the  scenery,  will 
hereafter  be  thronged  with  the  gay  and  fashionable 
of  both  sides  of  the  Continent. — p.  71. 

The  pniisape  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  our  English 
editor,  to  please  his  ministerial  employers,  represents 
as  a  Herculean  task;  but  in  this  also  he  is  mistaken. 

Mr.  Farnhnni  says  that  loaded  wagons  can  pass  them 
even  where  he  did  wi  tioul  serious  interruption.  He 
saw  at  Fort  Bossai,  on  a  river  of  the  same  name, 
which  is  a  branch  of  the  Sapin,  the  remains  of  a  one- , 
horse  Yankee  wagon, brought  thither  by  some  mission- 
aries from  the  State  of  Connecticut;  and  he  adds,  "that 
fortunately  for  the  next  of  our  countrymen  who  shall 
attempt  to  cross  the  continent,  a  safe  and  easy  passage 
has  lately  been  discovered  by  which  vehicles  of  the  kind 
maybe  drawn  through  to  the  Wallawalla."  The  new 
route  alluded  to  is,  it  is  presumed,  the  one  taken  by 
Mr.Townseud  and  his  party  in  1331. 

On  the  !)th  of  June,  (he  tells  us,)  they  encamped 
at  "Independence  Rock,"  on  the  Banks  of  the  Sweet 
Water,  which  is  one  of  the  head  waters  of  the  north 
fork  of  the  Plntte.  They  were  con.seipiently  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  They  passed 
through  the  "Great  Gap,"  at  a  place  generally  called 
the  "  Bull  Pen,"  having  on  their  right  hand  the 
Wind  river  cluster  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  the 
highest  land  in  North  America,  and  on  their  left 
hand.  Long's  range  of  the  same  mountains. 

On  the  12th,  they  advanced  over  the  pUiins  of  the 
Sweet  Water   lut.  '13  degrees,  G,  long.  110  degrees,  30. 

On  the  14ll,,  they  left  the  Sweet  Water  and  pro- 
ceeded southerly  to  Sandy  River,  which  is  a  branc 
of  the  Colorado  of  the  West,  thus  having  in  five 
days  pas.sed  the  main  ridge  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
with  comparative  ease  I 

They  proceeded  down  Sandy  River  to  Green  River, 
the  Sheetskadee  of  other  travellers,  and  a  branch  of 
the  Colorado  of  the  West,  into  which  Sandy  River 
empties,  thence  to  Hum's  fork  of  the  Green  River, 
thence  to  Muddy  Creek,  a  branch  of  Bear  river,  which 
empties  into  the  salt  lake,  or  Luke  Bonneville,  thence 
to  Bear  River,  which  they  struck  only  one  hundred 
miles  from  the  place  where  it  enters  the  lake,  thence 
to  White  Clay  Pits  on  Bear  River,  crosssd  over  to 
Blackl'eet  River  at  the  Three  Butes,  thence  to  Ross' 
Creek,  a  small  branch  of  Lewis'  River,  also  called 
Snake  River  and  Sapiu  River,  thence  to  Lewis' 
River,  and  down  Lewis'  River  to  the  Columbia. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  go(xi  map 
of  these  regions. 

But  the  last  and  most  formidable  obstacle  of  all,  to 
the  settlement  of  Oregon  from  the  Slates,  this  editor 
and  his  ministerial  friends  tell  us,  are  the  Cumnnches, 
a  numerous  and  ferocious  tribe  of  Indians,  who  (he 
says)  are  the  best  riders  aiul  the  best  shots  in  the 
world.  These,  more  formidable  than  the  Bedoums, 
(he  says)  hover  over  the  wilderness  like  birds  of 
prey,  ready  to  pounce  upon  the  unwary  traveller. 
But  this  ln<lian  story  will  prot  uce  no  effect  upon  the 
Americans,  who  will  smile  at  the  idea  of  being  in- 
timidated by  a  'jiandful  uf  Cumauches ! 


They  number  but  ten  thousand,  men,  women  and 
children, — their  home  is  the  neighlwrhoml  of  Texas, 
— they  come  \orlh  only  to  hunt  the  buffalo;  and  as 
the  buffalo  retires  before  the  fmUsteps  of  civilization, 
so  will  the  Cumanches;  leaving  behind  them,  (like 
Gog  imd  Magog,  to  whom  they  hrve  been  likened,) 
nothing  but  an  empty  name. 

A  much  more  formidable  impediment  to  the  settle- 
ment of  Oregon  by  Americans,  is  presented  by  the 
Hudson  Bay  Company.  But  this  is  an  obstacle 
which  must  be  met  aiiA  overcome,  and  the  soontr  it  is 
MET  and  OVERCOME  the  better!  The  Hudson  Bay 
Company  is  a  formidable  foreign  corporation,  consist- 
ing entirely  of  British  subjects,  and  acting  solely 
under  British  ministerial  protection  and  influence, 
within  the  bounds  of  Atrurican  Territory!"  The 
Hudson  Bay  Company  (says  the  Editor  we  have  so 
often  quoted)  is,  in  all  its  instincts  and  habits,  tho- 
roughly British  and  anti- American:"  and  for  once  he 
has  told  the  tr&th.  The  Hudson  Bay  Company's 
shares  of  stock  were  origiaally  £100 — but  by  en- 
grossing a  trade  which  belongs  exclusively  to  us, 
they  liave  advanced  one  hundred  per  cent!  The 
Hudson  Bay  Company  pay  an  interest  on  their  shares 
of  ten  per  cent.,  besides  laying  up  a  reserve  fund  for 
the  express  and  avoiced  purpose  of  keeping  Americans 
out  of  the  trade  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  have  again  and  again 
used  this  reserved  fund  to  persecute  Americans,  who 
dared  to  deal  in  furs  in  our  own  Territory  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company,  while  the  British  mi- 
nisters have  been  holding  out  the  illusion  that  the 
dispute  about  Oregon  shall  be  soon  amicably  settled, 
have  erected  and  fortified  nineteen  forts  within  our 
Territory !  They  have  taken  illegal  possession  of 
almost  every  eligible  spot  in  Oregon  as  regards  water 
ixiwer,  or  that  is  a  good  site  for  a  maimfactory ;  and 
they  have  selected  the  finest  sites  for  farms  I 

The  HudstJU  Bay  Company  are  cutting  the  best 
timber  off  our  lands,  and  selling  it  to  enrich  them- 
selves! 

The  British  Parliament  have  passed  an  act,  autho- 
rizing the  Hudson  Bay  Company  to  arrest  and  send 
to  Canada  any  American  citizen  who  may  come 
withiji  their  (the  Hudson  Bay  Company's)  displeasure. 

By  this  daring  outrage  upon  our  sovereignty,  any 
American  can  be  arrested  and  sent  out  of  our  own 
Territory,  to  be  tried  on  British  groiuid  by  British 
']m\ge8  anti  British  laws! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  have  power,  by  British 
laws,  to  give  judgment  against  any  American  citizen 
in  Oregon,  and  issue  an  excLUtion,  under  cover  of 
which  he  may  be  either  confined  in  their  forts,  or 
sent  to  the  jails  of  Canada,  at  their  pleasure  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company,  through  long  license, 
have  become  so  overbearing  that  they  actually 
obliged  a  respectable  American  to  wear  skins  for 
severp.l  years,  for  having  incurred  their  displeasure  ' 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company  send,  annually,  large 
parties  to  trap  the  Beaver  upon  land  adjacent  to  Ore- 
gon, belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  to  which 
England  has  never  laid  claim  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Cinnpany's  agents  commit  depre- 
dations upon  the  Indians  living  within  the  acknow- 
ledged limits  of  the  UnitedStates,  actually  murdering 
hundreds  of  them  every  year  ! 

The  Hudson  Bay  Company,  under  authority  of  the 


I 


OREGON   TERRITORV. 


11 


British  Parliament,  urc  uctually  selling  huiils  in  Ore- 
gon Territory  to  all  those  who  are  willuig  to  take 
their  title. 

What  is  to  be  done  ?  CongruM  has  been  p'^titioned 
by  the  American  settlors  in  Oregon,  to  take  them 
nnder  their  protection ;  but  their  prayers  are  unuii- 
Bwered. 

But  hark  I  a  sound,  like  the  meeting  of  many  wa- 
ters, rises  in  tlie  West  1— and  now  it  seems  to  roll,  as 
a  great  wave,  from  the  Alleghenies  even  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  ! — and  then  it  is  echoed  back  again 
to  the  sliores  of  the  Atlantic  I  It  is  the  mighty  voice 
of  an  injured  and  indignant  people,  who  have  been 
long  slumbering,  but  are  roused,  and  are  determhied 
to  do  themselves  justice! 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  discoveries  and  set- 
tlements of  the  French  and  the  English  in  Canada, 
to  precise  limits  were,  at  first,  fixed  to  their  respec- 
tive possessions.  At  the  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle, 
these  boundaries  were  yet  lel't  unsettled.  Both  na- 
tions wished  to  engross  the  fur  trade.  E.igland 
claimed  to  navigate  the  Mississippi ;  while  France 
endeavored  to  surround  the  British  possessions,  from 
that  river  to  the  lakes,  with  a  border  of  forts.  Both 
tations  were  anxious  to  win  over  to  their  side  the 
Indians.  Negotiations  were  resorted  to,  but  difficul- 
ties constantly  occurred,  which  created  delays. 
When,  suddenly,  Great  Britain,  without  a  declara- 
tion of  war,  or  giving  notice  of  any  kind  of  their 
tiostile  intentions,  sent  a  fleet  to  Canada  and  captured 
two  French  ships  of  the  line  ;  liy  a  siniultancons 
movement,  all  the  French  merchant  vessels,  sailing 
either  to  or  from  the  West  Indies  or  North  America, 
amounting  to  more  than  three  hundred,  were  cap- 
tured, and  tiiken  to  English  ports,  and  the  French 
seamen  thus  obtained  were  even  compelled  to  enter 
the  British  service;  Having  thus  olitained  a  signal 
advunlag;',  by  Miai/Hg  war,  before  it  was  d  eland, 
upon  the  nnsnspecliiig  Frenchmen,  they  pushed  for- 
ward this  advantage  \v\\\\  great  vigor,  until  they  com- 
pelled Ciuebec  to  surrender  to  their  arms. 

All  English  historian,  after  narrating  these  facts, 
expresses  a  well-grounded  fear  that  posterity  may 
look  upon  them  as  unwarrantable  aggresoions.  '-But 
(he  says)  it  is  as  evident  a  princinle  as  any  in  juris- 
prudence that  injuries  a«e)Hj)(e(/  may  bo  prevented, 
and  that  therefore  war  lo  hiitdtr  an  attack  is  as  lawful 
as  war  to  repel  or  punish  an  injury."  "  Policy,  there- 
fore, coincided  with  yi<,<tiVe  (I)  in  dictating  an  attack 
Upon  the  French  ships  I"  &c.,  &c. 

Here  is  an  English  lesson  ol'"  polity"  and  "justice" 
that,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  not  be  lo.st  ui)on  the  Ameri- 
can people.  If  there  was  the  ..ladow  of  justice  to 
authorize  England,  in  an  inter\-al  of  profound  peace 
between  her  and  France,  ai'J  while  negotiations 
were  actually  on  foot,  in  makin;j  this  sudden  and  un- 
lookcd  for  attack,  in  captuiing  their  ships,  armed 
and  unarmed,  and  in  making  slaves  (not  prisoners)  of 
their  seamen,  merely  to  prevent  a  rival  colony  from 
out-doing  them  in  act*  of  daily  occurrence  with  both 
nations,  a  multo/orttiii,  will  tve  be  justified  in  peace- 
fully taking  possession  of  our  own  territory  and  oust- 
ing unjust  intruders  ? 

The  original  ei:-.'-y  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company 
upon  our  territory  was  unlawful— their  remaining 
there  is  unlawful— he  who  oi/g/(Uo  know  thorn  says 
that  "  they  are  in  all  their  intstincts  and  huiits  tho- 


roughly Britis'i  and  Anli-Ameriran  ,"'  wherefore,  we 
owe  them  no  tnurtisy.  That  this  Company  acts  under 
the  ofders  of  the  prcent  British  Ministers,  is  also 
certain.  It  has  ever  been  the  policy  of  that  artful 
government,  when  they  had  any  dangerous  or  disa- 
greeable m ma-uvre  to  perforin,  to  employ  agents. 
This  method  insures  to  them  the  advantage  of  adopt- 
ing their  acts  if  successful,  or  abandoning  them  if 
necessity  re  |Uires.  If  Spain  had  been  able  to  enforce 
redress  for  the  outrages  committed  upon  their  pos- 
sessions in  the  new  world  by  Drake,  he  would  have 
been  punished  instead  of  being  knightf.d.  Many  of 
the  barbarous  murders  committed  during  our  wi.r  of 
the  revolution  were  laiil  upon  their  "  Indian  allies ;" 
and  now,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company,  they  are  depriving  our  citizens  of  all 
participation  in  the  fur  trade  of  our  own  country. 
"  Since  1S2J,  (says  the  English  edi:or  before  quoted) 
they  (the  Hudson  Bay  Company)  have  had  no  British 
rival,  and  they  have  exerted  I'.ll  their  policy  (arts) 
to  repress  intei  terence  on  the  part  of  the  Americans, 
and  in  this  they  seem  to  have  thoroughly  succeeded." 
To  enable  them  to  elTect  this  grand  object,  the  Bri- 
tish ministers  delay,  from  time  to  time,  th«  settle- 
ment of  the  pretended  question  of  their  right  of  sove- 
reignly. At  the  period  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  it 
was  put  off  for  ten  years,  with  a  stipulation  that  our 
citizens  should,  in  the  mean  time,  enjoy  an  equal 
right  of  trade.  By  the  treaty  of  1827,  it  was  indefi- 
nitely postponed,  under  the  "lame  condition.  In  the 
last  treaty  the  subject  is  entirely  and  unaccountably 
lost  sight  of;  and  now,  while  our  Cabinet  are 
amusetl  with  the  allegation  that  it  is  "  debateabte 
grourul,"  the  Iludsin  Bay  Company  will  not  allow  an 
American  to  purchase  a  single  skin,  and  we  are 
threatened  with  England  sending  30,000  men 
there,  to  overrun  our  soil.  If  Congress  do  not  and 
ivi'l  not  interfere,  will  '•  the  Lion  of  the  West''  sub- 
mil  tamely  to  this  foreip:n  imposition  ?  Will  not  the 
pe;)ple  of  l!io  United  Slates,  generally,  resent  the 
affront  put  upon  us,  as  an  indepeiulciit  nation? 

By  the  passage  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  autho- 
rizing the  seizure  of  Americans,  within  oiir  own 
territory,  to  be  dragged  to  foreign  places,  to  be  incar- 
cerated in  foreign  prisons,  and  to  be  tried  bct'ore 
foreign  judges  by  foreign  laws,  England  has  broken 
all  conditions  upon  which  mutual  tenure  of  Oregon 
with  mutual  rights  was  held  |  and  tlie  threat  of  send- 
ing 30,CjO  men  to  possess  the  country  will  justify  us, 
in  the  eye.-i  of  all  Christendom,  in  taking  immo.liato 
steps  to  settle  our  own  territory,  the  first  of  which 
will  be  the  ejecting  of  foreign  intruders, 

PART  III. 

Containing  a  Rex-ieiv  of  the  Letter  of  a  distinguishtd 
Member  of  the  British  Parliament,  published  in  lie 
London  Morning  Chronicle  of  the  iith  day  of  Afril, 
1913. 

In  the  London  Morning  Chronicle,  of  the  21th  day 
of  last  April,  is  a  letter,  said  to  have  been  written  by 
a  distinguished  member  of  the  British  Parliament, 
upon  tlie  Oregon  question  As  it  is  to  be  presumed, 
from  this  gentleman's  public  situation,  and  the  posi- 
tion he  assumes  of  instructor  of  his  countrymen,  that 
he  is  conversant  with  the  strongest  grounds  of  the 
English  claim  to  Oregon,  and  as  he  appears,  from  hts 


I  '4  3  J  <; 


12 


A    LECTt'llK   ON    THE 


letter,  to  have  placeil  those  grounds  in  their  strongest 
points  of  view,  it  is  thought  proper  to  give  to  liis  let- 
ter a  fair  and  candid  examination  anil  answer. 

This  JVI.  P.  commences  by  statnig  that  the  claim  of 
America  to  tlie  territory  in  quesiioi\  assumes  a  du- 
plex form.  That  she  claims  by  pre-occupaiinn  and 
also  by  cession.  Here  is  an  error  at  the  very  thresh- 
old. The  United  Slates  claims  the  whole  of  Ore- 
gon Territory  by  cession  from  the  Spaniards,  who 
were  the  first  discoverers  thereof  ;  and  slie  cliiims 
alltlie  liiud  watered  by  the  Columbia  River,  it>  tribu- 
taries and  head  waters,  under  a  well  known  princi- 
ple of  the  law  of  nations,  that  "  the  nation  who  dis- 
covers the  mouth  of  a  river  is  entitled  to  all  the  land 
that  is  watered  by  that  river,  its  tributaries  ond  head 
waters." 

"  The  United  States  (says  this  M.  P.)  occupied  the 
territory  in  1S05,  mid  upon  such  occupation  claim  an 
exelnsive  right,  at  all  events  as  against  England,  to 
the  whole  country." 

Now,  if  this  M.  P.  will  allow  the  United  States  to 
speak  for  themselves,  he  will  find  that  they  claim  the 
whole  territory  by  virtue  of  the  grant  from  Spain, 
whose  right  of  prior  discovery  of  the  same  they  (the 
United  Slates)  are  ready  to  prove,  as  also  that  it  had 
been  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain  prior  to  the  ces- 
sion of  Spain.  And  in  answer  to  the  cloims  of  Eng- 
land to  the  discovery  thereof,  the  United  States 
allege  that,  in  1792,  Captain  Gray,  of  the  American 
ship  Columbia,  first  discovered  the  Columbia  River, 
•which  he  named  after  his  ship.  That  he  landed, 
lield  an  interview  with  the  natives,  who  had  never 
before  seen  a  white  man  or  a  ship.  That,  in  1801, 
Lewi*  and  Clarke,  in  the  employ  of  the  United  States, 
asc'ciidtd  the  Missouri,  passed  the  Rocky  Mountains — 
up  to  that  time  une.'tplored  by  a  white  man — disco- 
vered and  explored  the  head  waters  of  the  Columbia 
River,  and  followed  that  river  down  to  its  mouth. 
Where  they  passed  the  winter  of  1S05-6.  That,  in 
180S,  the  American  Missouri  Fur  Company  eslablished 
several  trading  posts  on  the  River  Lewis,  a  branch  of 
the  Columbia.  That,  in  I'^ll,  Astoria  was  founded, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  River,  by  John  Jacob 
Astor,  of  IVew  York.  That  in  December,  181.3,  As- 
toria was  captured  by  the;  British  sloop-of-war  Rao- 
coon,  Captain  Blake.  That,  by  the  Treaty  of  Ghent, 
it  was  agreed  tiiat  all  territories,  &c.,  taken  by  either 
party  from  the  other,  during  the  war,  should  be  re- 
stored without  delay.  And  that  Astoria  was  restored 
to  the  United  States  by  Great  Britain  in  1818.  Now, 
the  United  States  say  that  by  virtue  of  the  above  dis- 
covery, (which  was  prior  in  point  of  time  to  any  that 
England  can  show,)  by  the  settlement  within  a  rea- 
sonable time  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
and  by  the  restoration,  they  have,  independently  of 
all  other  considerations,  a  full  and  perfect  title  to  all 
the  land  watered  by  the  Columbia  River,  its  tributii- 
ries  and  head  waters. 

It  will  hence  be  apparent  that  the  M.  P.,  in  his 
statement  of  the  American  title,  ha.s  omitted  many  of 
its  important  features.  It  appears  strange  to  us,  on 
this  side  of  the  water,  how  a  M.  P.  should  be  igno- 
rant of  the  fact  that  the  United  States  dales  her  dis- 
covery of  the  Columbia  River  os  far  back  as  1792,  as 
above  stated  |  and  not  in  1805,  as  he  (ilie  M.  P.)  has 
staled,  seeing  that  whenever  the  United  States  have 
made  known  their  claim  to  be  the  first  discoverers  of 


the  Columbia  River,  the  ''iscoverie.s  of  Captain  Gray 
and  of  Lewis  and  Clarke  have  been  simultaneously 
promulgated  ;  and  il  is  erpially  strange  how  a  person 
so  well  informed,  as  a  M.  P.  ought  to  be,  should  not 
know  that  his  own  countryman,  Vancouver,  an  offi- 
cer in  the  British  Navy,  admitted  that  Captain  Gray 
had  discovered  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  and  liad 
informed  him  (Vancouver)  of  the  existence  of  that 
river,  of  which  he  had  no  previous  knowledge.  "  Af- 
ter leaving  Nootka  Sound,  (says  this  Engli.«h  navi- 
gator.) the  serenity  of  the  weather  encouraged  him 
to  hope  that  he  might  be  enabled,  on  his  way  south, 
to  re-examine  the  coast  of  New  Albion,  and  particu- 
larly a  river  ami  hnrbnr  .Jscovered  by  Mr.  Gray,  in  the 
Columbia,  hHK<een  the  forty-sixth  and  forty-seventh  de- 
grtfs  of  north  latitude." 

But,  perhaps,  it  was  not  politic  for  the  M.  P.  to 
speakof  this  discovery  iif  the  mr)uth  of  the  Colum- 
bia, by  an  American  citizen,  so  early  as  1792,  a.^,  in 
that  case,  no  answer  could  have  been  given  to  the 
right  of  the  United  States  to  claim  the  sovereignty  of 
all  the  land  watered  by  that  river,  its  tributaries  and 
head  waters,  according  to  the  law  of  nations. 

Having  thus  set  the  M.  P.  straight  in  regard  to  the 
brief  of  title  of  the  United  States,  let  us  see  what  fur- 
ther he  has  to  say  upon  this  subject. 

"  But  pre-occupancy,  under  all  circumstances,  does 
not  impart  a  title."  "  In  order  that  it  shall  have  this 
effect,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  no  other  sub- 
stantial claim  should  exist."  This  rule  is  admitteil, 
provided  by  the  terms  "  substantiul  claim"'  is  inenit 
(as  it  is  presumed)  "  (((/t."  And  il  is  earnestly  re 
quested  that  this  rule  may  be  borne  in  mind,  as  il  is 
intended,  hereafter,  to  use  it  in  our  favor. 

But,  while  the  rule,  as  above  explained,  is  cheer- 
fully admitted,  it  is  diirereiit  with  the  inferences 
which  the  M.  P.  has  drawn  ihtrefrom,  provided  his 
course  of  reasoning  \\ax,  been  rigluly  understood. 

Il  will  be  observed  that,  in  what  follows,  the  M.  P. 
no  longer  uses  the  terms  "  subst;uiiial  claim,"  which 
are  above  considered  i>,s  synonymous  to  "  title,"  but  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  passage  he  uses  the  word  "  claim'" 
only.  If,  by  so  doing,  this  writer  meant  that  the 
United  Stales  were  precluded  from  discovering,  tak- 
ing possession  of  and  settling  Oregon,  because  Eng- 
land had  already  claimtd  the  territory,  without  re- 
gard to  \\\e.  title  of  England  thereto,  it  is  denied  that 
there  is  any  principle  of  the  law  of  nations  which 
recognizes  such  a  position.  The  notion  is  so  absurd 
and  dangerous  that  no  nation  in  Christendom  would 
be  willing  to  submit  to  its  introduction.  Suppose,  for 
instance.  Great  Britain  (who,  through  one  of  their 
most  popular  writers,  has  recently  declared  that 
"  the  whole  earth  is  her  inheritance" — Edinburg  Re- 
view,) should  publish  a  manifesto  declaring  that  they 
"  claimed'''  all  the  islands  in  the  Western  Ocean, 
would  that  claim  prevent  other  nations  from  mukuig 
subsequent  discoveries  of,  and  appropriating  to  them- 
selves any  island  in  that  regio*  which  was  before 
such  discovery  unknown  ? 

If,  on  the  contrary,  by  the  above  pasBnge  it  was  in- 
tended by  the  word  "  claim"  lo  mean  "  substantial 
claim,"  ("  title,")  then  the  United  States  are  not 
obliged  to  enter  the  lists  with  Qigland  under  the 
disadvantages  obscurely  pointed  out  by  the  M.  P., 
but  have  a  right  to  put  her  title  to  Oregon  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  world,  upon  the  same  square  oud  level 


OREGON    TERRITORY. 


13 


f  Cuptain  Oray 
simultaneously 
!  li()\v  a  iierson 
le,  shoulil  not 
;ouvor,  an  oiTi- 

Ca|)tuiu  Gray 
nliia,  and  had 
sifuce  of  tliat 
nvledpe.  "  A(- 

English  navi- 
iconraged  him 
lis  way  south, 
n,  and  particu- 
Ir.  Gray,  in  the 
orty-neventh  de- 

iT  the  M.  P.  to 

of  the  Coluin- 
as  1792,  as,  in 
in  given  to  the 
sovereignty  of 
ributaries  and 
latioiis. 

a  regard  to  the 
IS  see  what  fur- 

imstunces,  does 
shall  have  this 
no  oilier  sub- 
e  is  admitted, 
Ji'w''  is  niei'ut 
s  earnestly  re 
n  mind,  a^  it  is 
ivor, 

ined,  is  cheer- 
Ihe  inferences 
,  provided  his 
nderstood. 
uws,  tlie  M.  P. 
claim,"  which 
)  "title,"  but  in 
word  "  claiiH^' 
niuanl  that  the 
covering,   tak- 

because  Eng- 
■,  without  rc- 
is  denied  ihut 
'nations  which 
on  is  so  absurd 
itendom  would 
Suppose,  for 
h  one  of  their 

declared  that 
-Ediidturg  Re- 
aring that  they 
'estern  Ocean, 
s  from  niaking 
iating  to  theni- 
ich  was  before 

sage  it  was  in- 
n  "  subslaiilial 
States  are  not 
land  under  the 
;  by  the  M.  P., 
on  before  the 
quare  aud  level 


as  her  proud  a<lversao'  I  nnd  tliis  is  all  that  this  Re- 
public have  ever  demanded  .ir  will  ever  demand. 

'■  England  (says  this  M.  P.)  lias  for  rmtiiri'S  claim- 
ed Oregon,  by  the  same  tenure  now  set  forth."  Now 
here  the  learned  ftl.  I',  has  fallen  into  a  very  great 
error  In  1790,  which  is  mil  oni  century  ago,  a  dis- 
pute arose  between  Spain  and  Great  liritain  in  regard 
to  a  right  of  trude  and  traffic  at  "  Port  San  Ijorenzn," 
better  known  by  the  name  of-'  Nootka  Sound,"  which 
is  a  part  of  O/egon  Territory ;  Nootka  lying  between 
forty-ninth  aiid  fiftielli  degrees  of  nortli  latitude  and 
Oregon  Territory  e.vtending  from  forty-second  de- 
gree to  fifty-fourlh  degree  forty  minutes.  In  this  dis- 
pute Sjiain  claimed  excliifire  right  lo  thtt  whole  of 
Oregon,  by  virtue  of  her  prior  discoveries ;  and  Eng- 
land, admitting  that  the  right  of  sovereignly  to  the 
whole  territory  was  in  Siiain,  set  up  (as  before  slated) 
a  mere,  right  of  trade  and  traj/ic.  This  clajn  w.os,  in 
ilself,  unfounded,  but  such  subordinate  and  interlocu- 
tary  right  was  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  claim 
which  she  (England)  now  advances  to  the  whole  ter- 
ritory. [See  my  first  lecture.]  Whence  it  is  evident 
that  Great  Britain  has  nut  for  centurins  claimed  title 
to  Oregon,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  within  little  more 
than  half  a.  ceiituri/  she  has  admitted  that  she  had  no 
such  title. 

But  what  is  this  claim  to  Oregon  which  (as  this  M.  P. 
says)  England  Iuls  made  for  centuries? 

'•  It  has  long  existed  as  a  historical  fact  (says  the 
M.  P.)  that  the  very  territory  in  (jue.-tiou  was  dis- 
covered by  Sir  Francis  Drake,  aliout  the  year  1570, 
who  landed  upon  several  po'iils  of  the  coast,  taking 
formal  po.ssossion  of  the  same  in  the  name  of  (iucen 
Elizabeth.  In  sojne  old  Spanish  maps  the  terri- 
tory is  designated  '  New  Albion,'  with  a  t-horlnote  ex- 
pressive of  Drake'.-'  pri  irity  of  discovery  ;  and  ac- 
cording to  these  charts  New  Alliioii  c-\leiuled  several 
degrees  to  the  southward  of  the  pre-cnt  iinnhern 
Alexicnn  line.  Thus,  tluii,  we  find  actiint  posxefsion 
taken  by  linglaud  of  this  very  conai  betore  the  United 
Slates  had  even  a  colonial  existence." 

To  the  pages  of  history  which  relate  to  this  voy- 
age of  Drake,  I  also  choei  fully  iiii]  i;il.  [The  reader 
is  reipiesled  to  place  the  map  of  Norlli  aud  South 
America  befurc  him,  and  see  .Mavor's  Voyages,  2d 
vol.,  p.  7  to  4.5.]  In  1577,  (not  1.57G,)  the  15tli  Novem- 
ber, Drake  left  Plymouth.  On  the  27lh  January, 
1578,  he  was  at  the  '•  Mayo,"  one  of  the  Cape  Verd 
Islands.  On  the  (ith  of  September,  157.S,  he  pas.sed 
the  Strui^'hts  of  Magelhui  and  entered  llie  South 
Sea,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  saw  (he  says)  for  the 
first  time  the  eonllux  of  the  Western  and  Scmthern 
Oceans.  He  directed  his  course  for  thirty  degrees 
Roulh  latitude  ;  found  no  convenient  harbor ;  advanced 
to  Mucao  I  thence  lo  St.  Pliili|)'s  B.iy ;  thence  lo  Val- 
paraiso, in  latitude  thirty-three  degrees  three  minutes 
south,  where  he  captnr  nI  a  ship  belonging  to  Spain, 
(with  which  nation  England  was  at  peace  ;)  thence 
to  Coquimbo,  in  latitude  thirty  degrees  south  j  thence 
to  Sarcipaxa,  where  he  rolibed  a  Spaniard,  asleep, 
of  four  Ihonsand  ducats'  worth  of  silver  |  and,  on  the 
7th  of  I'ebruary,  1371).  lie  arrived  at  Arica,  in  south 
latitude  eighteen  degrees  twenty-six  niinuies,  where 
he  robbed  three  sinall  Spanish  vessels  of  fifty-seven 
ingots  of  silver.  lie  then  set  sail  for  Chili,  In  search 
of  plunder,  but  news  of  his  being  on  ihe  coast  having 
been  transmitted,  overland,  (us  Drake  learned  froiii  a 


captured  Indian.)  he  sailed  lor  and  arrived  at  Lima, 
where  a  number  of  Spanish  vessels,  richly  laden, 
were  robbed.  Here  he  learned  that  a  rich  Spanish 
ship  had  sailed,  three  days  b«i"i)re,  for  Paila,  which 
lies  in  south  latitude  five  degrees  five  minutes;  he 
resolved  to  pursue  her  j  but,  finding  that  slie  had  ac- 
tually proceeded  to  Panama,  which  lies  in  north  lati- 
tude 9  deg.  0  min.  30  sec,  he  altered  his  course.  On 
the  1st  of  March,  1579,  he  came  up  ;o  this  vessel,  and 
captured  her.  He  now  shaped  his  course  towards  the 
west ;  put  into  a  small  island  (the  iiiime  of  which  is 
not  mentioned)  to  refit.  On  Ihe  20lli  of  March,  they 
put  to  sea  again,  and,  on  the  13tli  of  April,  arrived 
at  Port  Anguatulco — [he  committed  several  piracies 
(m  this  route] — where  he  landed  and  plundered  the 
town.  Drake's  crew,  now  sated  with  plunder,  were 
anxious  to  return  to  England  ;  but  he  expatiated  upon 
the  honor  of  finding  a  northwest  pa.asage.  His  au- 
thority prevailing,  they  sailed  into  a  port  in  the  Isle 
of  Canes,  where  they  took  in  wood  .md  water.  They 
thence  proceeded  in  quest  of  the  northwest  pas- 
sage; but  after  sailing  to  latitude  forty-three  de- 
grees north,  ivithout  $((in>j;  any  land,  they  relinquish- 
ed their  purpose  and  altered  their  course.  Drake 
now  deteriiiined  to  visit  the  Moluccas,  in  the  East 
Indian  Sea,  and  thence  return  to  England,  by  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  Oil  the  17th  of  June,  1579,  he  an- 
chored in  a  commodious  hiirbor  in  no.  ih  latitude. 3S  deg, 
30  mill.,  (which  ii|>on  t)ie  small  niiip  which  ac- 
comiianies  this  letter  is  marked  "  Po.  St.  Francis 
Dr.")  This  liuid  our  hero  mistook  for  an  iMnitd,  and 
supposing  himself  to  be  the  first  discoverer,  he  took 
possession,  and  called  it '•  New  Albion."  And  this 
is  llie  discovery  under  which  (this  M.  P.  says)  Eng- 
land ;ii)i('  claims  Oregon  Territory,  wliicli  lies  bc- 
tweeaiiorth  latitude  fuiy-two  degrees  and  fit"ty-one 
degrees  forty  miniites,  aud  whicli  iiiait;  mver  sail'. 

On  the  23d  t)f  July,  Drake  kit  there  sk  ires,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Mi'liiccas,  aud  thence,  by  the  Cape  of 
Good  II  pe,  home  to  England. 

I  have  followed  Drake  thus  miuulely  that  every 
one  ni:iy  judge  for  himself  how  ridiculous  it  is  for 
this  .M.  P,  to  rely  upon  the  pretended  di-covery  of 
A'etc  Al'jiun,  by  Sir  Francis  Drake,  for  giving  title  lo 
1  ngluud  to  Oregon. 

'na  geographical  work  by  Peter  Ileylin,  published 
i..  London  ill  1071,  page  lOj,  this  "  island"  of  A'ova 
Albion,  in  latiliule  thirty-eight  degrees,  is  said  to  have 
been  discovered  by  Sir  Francis  Drake,  in  '  's  cir- 
cumiiavigalion  of  the  world,  anno  ].)77,  and  by  him 
naiiu;d  \ova  Albion,"  in  honor  of  England,  his  own 
country,  which  was  once  called  •'  Albion."  In  page 
Id,  "  Nova  Albion"  is  stated  to  be  parted  from  tlie 
main  by  a  sea  called  "  .Mer  Veriniglio,"  which,  it  is 
said,  is  entirely  surrounded  by  the  ocean  and  extends 
from  Cape  niaiico  to  Cape  St.  Luciis.  The  Gulf  of 
California,  inlsiiamed  .Mer  Veriniglia,  which  sepa- 
rates Ihe  peninsula  of  Old  Calitornia  (not  the  Island 
of  Nova  Albion)  from  the  main  land  of  Mexico,  is 
about  seven  hundred  miles  h^ng,  varying  in  breadth 
from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  twunly  miles  ;  at  its 
northern  extremity  it  receives  the  Colorado  and  the 
(.iila  Rivers.  On  the  map  of  North  and  South  Ameri- 
ca, which  will  be  found  between  pages  t;2  and  83, 
this  supposed  Island  of  New  Albion  and  "  Sea  of 
Vermiglio"  are  laid  down,  and  all  the  land  in  Norll;- 
western  America  b«yond  lorly-two  degrees  is  marked 


• 


14 


A  LECTt'EK  ON   THE 


as  "Terra  Horealis  Incognita..''  To  California 
llie  title  of  Spain  never  has  bt'eii  disputod  liy  Eng- 
land or  any  other  nation  or  individual.  (It  was  dis- 
covered by  Cortez  in  1.'>.35.)  Even  our  M.  P.  has 
admitted  it.  "But  Spain  hitd  never  the  shadow 
of  a  ,claiin,  at  all  events  recognizod  by  England, 
to  an  acre  of  soil  beyond  the  present  acksow- 
LKDOED  NORTHERN  LIMITS  OS  Mkxico,  beyond  the 
parallel  of  forty-two  degress"  and  within  thi.s  ac- 
knowledged limit  of  California,  this  pretended  "New 
Albion"  is  said  to  be. 

What  becomes  of  the  bnasied  discovery  of  Ore- 
gon Territory  by  Sir  Francis,  upon  whiih  this  M.  P. 
so  confidently  relies  for  the  title  of  Great  Britain, 
when  it  has  been  shewn,  not  only  that  Oregon  was 
not  included  within  the  only  piece  of  ground  o" 
which  Sir  Francis  erroneously  claimed  to  be  the  dis- 
coverer, but  that  his  countryman,  liis  historian,  and 
the  herald  of  his  fame,  hixa  acknowldeged  that  in 
1674,  nearly  one  hundred  years  after  Drake's  return 
home,  the  regi(m  tiow  known  as  Oregon,  was  utterly 
unknovmiii  England? 

England,  it  is  presumed,  will  never  again  display 
the  discoveries  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  in  coiuiection 
with  the  title  to  this  territory. 

But,  to  return  to  our  M.P.  He  proceeds  to  say 
that  the  title  of  England  to  Oregon  is  founded  upon 
those  acknowledged  principles  upon  which  she  held 
her  former  colonies  on  the  AtlmUic  side  of  North 
America,  and  that  the  United  States,  having  by  the 
treaty  of  peacf  of  liS."),  taken  a  transfer  of  the  Eng- 
lish title  to  the  colonies,  are  forever  precluded  from 
disputing  the  title  of  Great  Britain  to  Oregon. 

Now,  leave  is  taken  to  deny  both  these  premises 
and  the  conclusion.  The  title  under  which  Great 
Britain  held  her  former  Atlantic  colonies  in  North 
America  wiis  founded  upon  ti.e  prior  discoveries  of 
Giovanni  (iulmto,  in  tho  employ  of  Henry  VII,  in 
11!)7,  and  her  actuiil  settlements  made  of  them  from 
10-20  to  IGSl.  But  she  can  show  no  discovery  of  Ore- 
gor.  prior  to  those  of  Spain,  under  whom  we  claim, 
or  to  those  made  of  the  Columbia  River  by  the  United 
States.  The  title  of  England,  therefore,  to  Oregon 
does  not  depend  upon  the  same  princii)le3  as  the 
title  to  her  former  Atlantic  colonies;  and  the  pre- 
mises of  our  M.  P.  fall  to  the  ground.  But  even  if 
England  had  an  imperfect  title  to  her  former  Atlantic 
colonies  and  the  United  States  accepted  that  title, 
quantum  valebat,  how  could  this  acceptance  affect, 
one  way  or  the  other,  the  title  to  Oregon?  The 
United  States  were  in  possession  of  the  soil,  and  were 
the  owners,  rfe/acto;  England  claimed  to  have  the 
title  to  the  sovereignty,  de  jure ;  where  then  was  the 
impropriety  of  accepting  such  an  instrument,  which 
might  act,  at  leost,  as  a  release. 

The  next  ground  upon  which  the  M.  P.  places  the 
title  of  England  to  the  sovereignty  of  Oregon  is  what 
he  calls  the  general  principles,  which  at  the  time  of 
the  western  di.-»covery  and  settlement  were  univer- 
sally admitted  to  regulate  the  practice  of  the  Eu- 
ropean powers  in  America.  "  In  appropriating  to 
tliemselves  (says  the  M.  P.)  the  newly  discovered 
continent,  there  was  one  common  rule  which  they  were 
TACITLY  and  mutually  pledged  to  observe."  "  It  was 
regarded  from  the  very  first  as  a  fixed  principle — that 
possession  of  the  Atlantic  coast  conferred  upon  the 


possessor  the  right  to  the  inland  country — stretching 
indefinitely  tpe.^twnrd." 

That  there  never  was  any  such  "  principle,"  or 
"  common  rule,"  to  which  the  European  powers  who 
discovered  and  settled  America  were  either  tacitly  or 
expre8.«ly  pledged,  will  now  be  proven. 

In  1683,  M.  De  la  Salle,  a  Frenchman,  navigated 
the  Mississippi  River  from  Canada  to  its  mouth  ;  in 
virtue  whereof  France  claimed  the  sovereignty  of 
Louisiana,  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  from  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  in  north  latitude  about  29  deg.,  to  the 
head  water.s,  in  49ih  deg.  of  latitude.  Now,  this  re- 
gion of  country  lies  westward  of  the  British  Atlantic 
colonics  in  North  America,  which,  as  before  shown, 
had  been  previously  discovered  and  settled  from 
Georgia,  in  31  deg.,  to  Maine,  in  48  deg.  If,  there- 
fore, England,  by  this  discovery  and  settlement  of 
the  Atlantic  coast,  had  conferred  upon  themselves 
"  the  inland  country,  stretching  indefinitely  westward,''* 
they  were  entitled  to  Louisiana,  which  lay  between 
these  latitudes,  on  the  "  stretch"  towards  the  west. 
But  this  title  of  France  was  acknowledged  by  Great 
Britain  in  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  Piid  of  Ver- 
sniles,  in  1703.  And  if  this  rule  of  stretching  indefi- 
nitely to  the  westward  was  the  "  principle,"  or  "  com- 
mon rule,"  why  did  not  England,  by  virtue  thereof, 
claim  all  the  rest  of  the  Spanish  possessions  on  the 
North  American  Continent,  which  lie  between  the 
parallels  of  latitude  of  their  Atlantic  colonies?  Why 
did  they  not  lay  claim  to  all  that  part  of  California 
which  lies  between  31  deg.  and  42  deg.,  which  could 
have  been  done  with  equal  justice,  if  any  such  prin- 
ciple or  common  rule  had  been  pledged  ?  And  why 
has  our  M.  P.,  almost  in  the  same  breath  that  he 
claims  the  right  of  stretching  westward  indefinitely, 
told  us  that  "  the  acknowledged  boundary  of  Spain 
extends  to  42  deg"  ? 

Again,  when,  in  1790,  England  had  the  dispute  with 
Spain,  with  'eg-ard  to  her  pretended  right  of  trade  and 
traffic  at  Xoolka  Sound,  why  did  not  the  learned  Pitt 
put  an  end  to  that  dispute  in  a  minute,  by  saying  that 
Nootka  Sound  lay  between  45  deg.  and  51  deg.,  and 
tliiit  B^nghind,  by  stretching  indefinitely  westward  the 
lines  of  latitude  of  her  colonies,  was  entitled  to  cliiim, 
not  a  right  of  trade  and  traffic,  but  the  sovereignty 
of  Nootka  Sound? 

Had  any  such  "  principle,"  or  "  common  rule," 
such  as  the  M.  P.  has  now  insi.sted  on,  existed,  it 
would  scarcely  have  escaped  the  acute  observation 
of  tlie  renowned  Pitt ;  and  therefore  the  inference  is 
allowable  that  this  is  an  after-thought,  seized  upon, 
as  a  dernier  argument,  in  support  of  a  hopeloss  claim. 

Moreover,  if  this  rule  of  stretching  westward  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean  was  a  common  rule,  as  the  M.  P. 
hr  "  as-serted,  why  does  not  Great  Britain,  in  virtue 
of  her  possessions  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  conti- 
nent between  north  latitude  54  deg.  40  min.  and  65 
deg.  52  min.,  claim  all  the  land  between  tho.se  paral- 
lels of  latitude  on  the  Pacific,  whereas  it  is  well 
known  that  Russia  holds  undisputed  possession  of 
those  regions,  and  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  the 
great  corporate  agent  of  Great  Britain,  has  taken  a 
lea.se  from  Russia  of  a  part  thereof. 

In  every  civilized  country  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, when  one  man  seeks  to  deprive  another  of 
an  acre  of  ground,  the  demandant  is  called  upon  to 
make  proof  of  his  title,  us  b  condition  precedent  to 


u 


lati 


OREGON     TKRRITORY. 


IS 


) 


ry—itreUhing 

principle,"  or 
11  powers  who 
ither  tacitly  or 

an,  navigated 
its  mouth ;  in 
sovereignty  of 
rom  the  Gulf 
,  to  the 
Now,  this  re- 
Iritish  Atlantic 
before  shoMm, 
settled  from 
leg.    If,  there- 
settlement  of 
on  themselves 
tely  teestward," 
h  lay  between 
ards  the  west, 
edged  by  Great 
713,t>ndofVer- 
retching  indefi- 
iple,"  or  "  corn- 
virtue  thereof, 
sessions  on  the 
ie  between  the 
colonies?  Why 
irt  of  California 
g.,  which  could 
'  any  such  prin- 
ted ?    And  why 
;  breath  that  he 
mn\  indefinitely, 
indary  of  Spain 


the  dispute  with 
right  of  trade  and 
the  learned  Pitt 
e,  by  saying  that 
nd  51  ('eg.,  and 
ily  westward  the 
entitled  to  claim, 

the  sovereignty 

'  common  rule," 
:d  on,  existed,  it 
;ute  observation 
:  the  inference  is 
It,  seized  upon, 
1  hopeloss  claim, 
ng  westward  to 
ale,  as  the  M.  P. 
ritain,  in  virtue 
ide  of  the  conti- 
40  min.  and  6S 
'een  tho.^e  paral- 
tiereas  it  is  well 
ed  possession  of 
y  Company,  the 
Ain,  has  taken  a 

vhich  we  are  ac- 
prive  another  of 
I  cpUed  upon  to 
on  precedent  to 


his  recovery.  Upon  the  same  principle  of  right,  it 
may  not  be  esteemed  too  bold  to  inquire,  when  Knp- 
laud  is  seeking  to  take  from  the  United  States  tlie 
sovereignty  of  a  country  he  ing  an  area  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  square  niiies',  what  evi- 
cknce  she  hiis  produced  of  tliis  rule,  of  stretching  in- 
definitely westward,  U|>oii  which  our  M.  P.  8t>  firmly 
relies?  Is  it  a  part  of  the  law  of  nations,  binding, 
by  common  consent,  upon  all  civilized  communitie.i  ? 
This  is  not  pretended.  Can  it  be  traced  to  any  treaty 
made  between  those  nations  who  were  respectively 
concerned  in  the  discovery  and  seltlemeiii  of  North 
America  ?  No  such  treaty  has  been  imr  can  be  vouch- 
ed. "  This  rule  (says  the  M.  P.)  the  Kuropenn  pow- 
ers in  America  tar.itly  and  mutually  pledged  them- 
selves to  observe."  He  acknowledges,  ihcn,  liis  in- 
ability to  refer  to  any  such  eonueiUion,  contract  or 
agretinent  between  the  parties  in  interest,  aiid  relies 
upon  inference  and  implication,  a  v  frail  and  dan- 
gerous base  whereon  to  build  so  important  a  super- 
structure as  the  "  pledge"  in  question.  He  has,  more- 
over, first  asserted  that  the  rule  was  "  univenally" 
admitted.  "In  order  to  form  a  correct  judgment 
(says  our  M.  P.)  we  must  throw  ourselves  uixm  those 
principles  which  at  the  time  of  western  discovery 
were  universally  admitted  to  regulate  the  practice 
of  European  powers  in  '  America.'  "  Yet,  imme- 
diatfl  iifierwards,  he  tells  us  that,  "  although  it  was 
the  r(cvs;nized  principle,  there  were  many  instances 
in  which  it  was  widely  departed  from.-''  And  two 
instances,  of  great  iinpoiiaiice,  have  been  above  no- 
ticed, viz.,  those  of  the  lands  watered  by  the  Mi.-*- 
sissiinii  and  California,  which  are  in  direct  opposilion 
to  such  a  rule.  Our  M.  P.  then  proceeds  lo  point  out 
some  instances  in  which  (as  he  says)  Eni^land  acted 
upon  the  principle  of  thi.?  rule  ;  but,  in  order  to  make 
an  agref mentor  contract,  \X  will  not  suffice  to  show 
the  acts  or  words  of  one  party,  it  requiring  the  coii- 
senl  of  at  least  two  to  make  an  ngreenient  ot  any 
kind.  Itesides  which,  the  iiislauces  which  the  M.  P. 
hasadduced  in  proof  of  the  rule  of  stretching  west- 
ward to  ihe  Pacific  Ocean,  are  none  of  them  to  the 
point,  since  they  turn  out,  upon  e.\nmination,  to  be 
nothing  but  English  charters  to  their  own  cohmists, 
without  giving  western  limits;  a  practise  which 
arose  out  of  an  ignorance  of  the  geography  of  the 
North  American  Continent. 

The  two  grounds  upon  which  Great  Britain  claims 
title  to  Oregon,  relied  u|K)n  by  the  AI.  P.,  hare  now 
been  examined  -  J  what  is  the  result  ?  That  she 
has  not  the  shadow  of  a  claim.  They  shall  be  briefly 
recapitulated.  l.st.  The  supposed  discovery  of  Ore- 
gon by  Sir  Francis  Drake.  2d.  The  right  of  the  dis- 
coverers of  lands  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  to  extend 
their  lines  westward  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Both  these 
have  been  fairly  discussed  and  completely  answered. 

Now  let  us  glance  at  the  other  side. 

The  United  Slates  claim  the  whole  of  Oregon  Ter- 
ritory under  a  soleimi  treaty  made  with  Spaui,  and 
afterwards  confirmed  by  Mexico.  The  M.  P.  says 
that,  under  the  transfer  of  Spain,  Ihe  United  States 
cun  derive  nu  better  title  than  Spain  herself  had.  Ad- 
mitted. Hut  Spain  made  the  first  discoveries  of  Ore- 
gon Territory,  from  1543  to  1775— and  the  Parliament 
of  Great  Britain  has  acknowledged  her  title  to  the 
same.  [See  my  first  lecture — the  proceedings  in  re- 
lation to  Nootka  Sound.] 


And  as  to  the  discovery  of  the  Columbia  River  by 
Captain  Gray  and  licwis  and  Clarke,  it  is  not  and 
cannot  be  denied. 

The  M.  P.  admits  that  the  United  States  wa.^  in 
possession  of  Oregon  in  1&05.  He  ought  lo  hnvesaid 
179*2.  And  it  is  only  since  181)3  that  threat  Britain  has 
attempted  to  occupy  the  same 

But  it  is  obvious  that  in  whichever  way  England 
claims  Oregon,  whether  by  the  discovery  of  Sir 
Francis  Drake  in  1570,  or  by  the  discovery  and  set- 
tlement of  her  Atlantic  colonies,  the  last  of  which, 
viz.,  Pennsylvania,  was  colonized  in  I'inl,  that  if 
Bhe  ever  had  any  title  at  all  she  must  have  had  it 
previously  to  170.3.  Now,  in  that  year  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Spain  made  a  solemn  treaty  settling  defi- 
nitively the  parts  of  the  North  American  Continent 
that  belonged  to  them  respectively,  and  the  Emiiisli 
historian,  Bissett,  in  "  his"  continuation  of  Hume's 
History  of  England,  tell  us  what  was  ihe  extent  of 
her  territory  on  this  continent  at  that  dale,  including 
all  her  discoveries  and  acquisitions  ;  and  Oregon  is 
NOT  INCLUDED.  And  I  have  now  in  my  possJession  a 
map,  which  is  entitled  "  An  Accurate  Map  of  North 
America,  describing  and  dislinguishing  Ihe  British, 
Sptuii.sli  and  French  Dominions  on  this  great  conti- 
nent according  to  the  Definite  Treaty,  concluded  at 
Paris  lOlli  of  February,  1703,  also  of  the  West  India 
Islands,  belonging  to  and  possc>'scd  by  the  several 
European  Princes  and  Slates."  "The  whole  laid 
down  according  lo  the  latest  and  in  )sl  aiitlieiilic  iin- 
provcnii'iits,  by  E.man  Bowen,  (.'iEoo'ii  to  uls  Majes- 
ty, and  John  Gibs  hi,  engraver."  And  oil  this  map 
the  doiuinionsof  KiigUuiil  e.ilL'ud  from  llie  Atlantic 
to  llie  Missis-ippi ;  ilio  French  doiniiiions  c.xiciid  from 
llic  Mis.si:-sippi  lo  the  western  boiiiulary  of  I,oiii>iana, 

and  ALL  THE  country  IIETWICEN  THE  LAST  MKNTIONEO 

liofNDARV  ANu  THE  Pacific  Ocean  is  i-ui  down  as 
BELONGING  TO  Si'AiN.  This  cvideuce  is  conclusive 
as  to  the  right  of  Spain,  and  shows  that  the  claim 
now  made  by  England  is  of  recent  date  and  entirely 
insupportable. 

"The  nitv  relations  of  the  civilized  world  with 
the  East  have  brought  the  Pacific  coast  of  America 
into  vast  and  sudden  importance,''  says  inir  M.  P. 
Here  is  the  main-spring  that  has  set  in  motion  all  llie 
wheels  of  British  sophistry.  But  they  revolve  in 
vain,  for  the  United  States  never  will  give  up  Orec;on 
(to  which  they  have  a  just  title)  as  long  as  the  waters 
of  the  beauiiful  C(duinbia  River  shall  cimtinue  to 
flow  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  shall  stand  upon  their 
present  fuundatioiis. 

PART  IV. 

A  Review  of  the  "Statement'^  of  Messrs   TrimUsson 
and  Addiu'^Uin,  Engliah  I'lenipolcnliarips  in  1827. 

Truth  is  simple  and  uniform;  but  the  British 
claims  to  Oregon  are  complex  and  contradictory.  I 
published,  at  large,  the  letter  of  a  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  British  Parliament.  In  it,  as  has  been 
seen,  the  title  of  England  to  the  Territory  in  question 
is  confined  to  two  grounds,  1st.  The  (pretended)  dis- 
covery of  Sir  P'rancis  Drake  of  his  Island  of  New 
Albion,  and — 2d.  The  assumed  right  of  the  British 
crown,  by  virtue  of  the  discovv:ries  and  settlements 
of  their  former  Atlanlic  Colonies  to  stretcli  Ihrongli 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean.    Having  submitted  my  answers 


16 


A    LECTURE  ON   THE 


\-  lolh  tliese  grnuiid.o,  in  my  third  Kcony,  it  is  not  my 
purpose  to  resume  that  (lifciifsion  at  tills  itiomeut ;  l)iit 
I  liiive  tlioiiglit  proper  to  miiUe  the  iiliove  stntemeiil 
(f  Ilie  grouuds  of  title  to  show  that  the  M.  P.  con- 
tended for  an  errlusive  rijfht  of  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  Hoil.  <'J3eyond  the  pariillel  of  42°  (says  tlie 
M.I'.)  Kngland  has  ever  ste.ntlily  rlaimtd  an  exclii- 
sivK  PROPRiKTORSHip,  HOf  has  «ny  act  on  her  part, 
since  her  title  fir.»i  accrued,  cither  weakened  or 
interrupted  her  claim."  I  now  solicit  the  attention 
of  my  readers  while  I  n('t  out  the  grounds  of  the 
title  of  Great  IJrilain  to  Oregon,  as  contained  in  a 
written  ftattineiit  of  Messrs.  HusKissox  and  ADDi.NfS" 
TON,  plenipotentiaries  appointed  hy  lier  in  16"27. 
'•  Great  Britain  claims  so  e.xclusive  sovereignty 

OVr.n  ANY  fORTION  OF  THE  TERRITORY  IN  THE  I'a- 
<IFIC,  HETWEKN  THE  FORTY-RECOXD  AND  FORTY- 
NINTH  PARALLELS  «K  LATITUDE  j  her  present  claim, 
not  in  respect  lo  any  part,  but  to  the  whole,  is  Li- 

.MITED  TO  A   RIGHT   OF   JOINT    OCCUPANCY  IN    COM.MON 

WITH  OTHER  States,  leaving  the  right  of  exclusive 
dominion  in  abeyance;  end  her  pretensions  to  the 
mere  mnintenaiice  of  her  own  rights,  in  resi.stance 
to  the  e.xclusivk  character  of  the  pretensions  of 
the  U.  S." 

Now  nothing  is  required  but  a  comparison  of  these 
•'  pret'.n.iions''^  of  Messrs.  Huskisson  and  Addington 
with  llio  "c/ii/«,s"of  the  iNl.P.,  toperceive  that  they 
are  so  completely  and  entirely  at  variance  that  they 
cinnnt  for  a  single  moment  sland  together,  and  that 
if  o/it' is  adopted,  th'' oilier  must,  neeessiirily,  fall  to 
the  ground.  The  r'v^hx  i>{  jirior  disrovcry  of  annti>,n 
must,  by  inevilalile  consequence,  confer  an  es^lm^lve 
ri'j:lil,  if  it  confers  any.  Ami  il  wa.«  upon  the  strength 
of  tins  conclusion  llinl  the  Hrilisli  government  eject- 
ed lliu  Spaniards  from  the  Falkland  Islands,  the 
Dull  II  fr(  in  their  seillevne)ii.ii  in  New  York,  and  the 
Swedes  from  llie  peaceful  shines  of  the  Delaware, 
riow  is  it  possible  thill  a  S'jirtrate  act  of  discovery 
can  eont'er  a  jt^inl  i  iglil  ?  The  e.\clii-^i  ve  sovereignty 
is  conferred  upon  the  nation,  in  coii.^idcraliiu  of  the 
expense,  trouble,  iiidnslry  and  perseverance  of  the 
citizens  or  subjects  in  niakiug  tlie  prior  discovery  ; 
bill  it  Would  be  struii^'c  indeed  if  this  sovereignty 
W!is  to  be  divided,  equally,  between  those  who  hail 
and  those  who  hntt  not  been  at  this  expense  and 
trouble  j — between  those  who  hail  used  industry  and 
perieverance  and  those  who  had  not.  And  this  in- 
congruity is  rendered  still  more  striking  from  the 
circumstance  that  this  right  of  sovereignty  by  prior 
discovery,  is  to  be  enjoyed  not  only  by  n«oJ/ier,  but  by 
U'ther  States,'^  i.e.,  by  all  other  States  who  t'vink 
proper,  at  any  time  to  make  the  claim.  "  The  claim 
of  Knglaud  (say  Messrs.  Huskisson  and  Addington) 
is  limited  to  a  right  of  joint  orntpanr;/  in  common 
ivilh  other  States."  That  such  a  common  right,  origin- 
ating in  a  prior  discovery  of  any  one  State,  is  recog- 
nized by  the  law  of  nations,  or  has  ever  been  acceded 
to,  t'xeept  where  the  nation  has  been  forced  into  the 
measure  Iiy  the  fear  of  British  arms,  I  confidently 
deny.  Upon  the  whole,  then,  it  appears  that  this 
";;reMi<io/r'*  of  Great  Britain  (as  it  lias  not  inaptly 
been  called)  is  a  final  and  conclusive  answer  to  the 
claims  of  the  M.  P.  in  right  of  her  (alleged)  prior 
discovery. 

*  "Preti:n?ion,"  a  fictitious  show  or  appearance.— 
Barclay's  Dictionary. 


But  if  this  right  o(  joint  oer.upanry  cannot  he  traced 
to  the  law  of  nations,  and  is,  as  I  have  shown,  so 
much  at  variance  with  the  principles  which  govern 
in  such  cases,  whence  does  it  derive  its  binding 
effect  ? 

"The  rights  of  Great  Biitain  (continue  Messrs. 
Huskisson  and  Addington)  are  recorded  and  defined 
in  the  Convention  o/1790  ;  they  embrnce  the  right  to 
navigate  the  waters  of  those  countries,  to  settle  in  and 
over  any  part  of  them  and  to  trade  with  the  inhabi- 
tants and  occupiers  of  the  same." 

"The  Convention  of  1790?"  The  reader  will  no 
d(uibt  be  surprised  to  learn  that  this  "Convention" 
was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  treaty  made  the 
iiSth  of  October,  1790,  between  Spain  and  Great  Bri- 
tain and  no  other  power.  So  that  here  we  find  these 
plenipotentiaries,  after  all  the  denials  on  behalf  of 
Great  Britain  that  Spain  had  any  right,  by  prior  dis- 
covery or  otherwise,  to  Oregon,  laying  the  founda- 
tion stone  o(  all  her  (Great  Britain's)  rights  to  the 
territory  upon  the  title  of  the  Spaniards !  "  If  Spain 
had  no  title  (said  the  M.  P  )  she  ccmld  convey  none 
to  the  U.  S."  This  was  granted,  for  true  it  is  that 
the  waters  can  be  traced  no  higher  than  the  spring 
But  unless  there  is  one  rule  of  interpretation  where 
England  is  concerned  and  another  for  the  U.  S.,  Eng- 
land, by  a  Convention  with  Spain,  could  derive  no 
greater  right  than  was  vested  in  the  Spanish  crown. 
Wherefore  this  referwice  of  the  plenipotentiaries  to 
the  "  Convention"  with  Spain,  as  the  "defined"  and 
"  recorded"  basis  of  the  "  pretensions''  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, is  a  free,  full  and  absolute  admission  tliat  Spain 
was  entitled  to  the  territory,  in  right  of  htr  prior  dis- 
m-eriis  ;  that  being  the  only  title  thereto  which  the 
Spaniards  have  ever  set  up.  Now  what  becomes  of 
Sir  Francis  Drake  and  his  (pretended)  Island  of  Al- 
bion ?  What  becomes  of  that  singularly  erroneous 
notion  of  the  M.  P.,  of  the  right  of  Great  Britain,  by 
virtue  of  her  discovery  and  sellleinent  of  her  Atlan- 
tic colonics,  to  stretch  (over  Louisiana  and  California) 
to  the  Paeilic  Ocean  ?  All  these  dreams  of  the  M. 
P.  have  vanished  before  tliis  diplomatic  admission  of 
the  Spanish  right,  "like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision, 
leaving  not  a  wreck  behind  1" 

Taking  then  the  statement  of  these  plenipotentia- 
ries to  embody  the  entire  "  pretensions"  of  G.  Britain 
to  Oregon,  I  pledge  my.*elf,  if  the  reader  will  accom- 
pany me,  to  show  that  they  are  no  justification  for 
England  to  claim  title  to  that  territory. 

In  the  first  place,  I  recall  attention  to  the  circum- 
stances imder  which  that  convention  was  wrung  (I 
do  not  make  use  of  loo  strong  a  word)  from  the 
Spaniards.  I  recall  attention  to  that  part  of  my  first 
lecture  in  which  I  have  shown,  that  the  right  to 
Oregan  by  prior  discovery  was  in  Spain,  that  thu  en- 
try upon  Nootka,  by  the  British  subjects,  was  a  tres- 
pass—that the  King,  Lords  and  Commrms,  in  Parlia- 
ment assembled,  acknowledged  that  the  title  to  the 
sovernigty  of  Oregon  was  in  Spain — that  nothing 
more  was  claimed,  on  belin'f  of  Great  Britain,  than  a 
right  of  trn/le  and  trajfic—ihai  such  a  right  to  trade  and 
traffic,  -vithout  the  consent  of  the  soverign  of  a  coun- 
try, is  not  recognized  by  any  principle  of  the  law  of 
nations — that  Spain  nisisted  upon  her  exchtsive  right 
of  sovereignty — that  she  was  threatened  with  war  by 
Great  Britain,  whose  Parliament  had  voted  a  million 
of  pounds  to  c^irry  il  on— that  France,  to  whom  sh« 


thll 
tof 

M 
th( 

"Pi 
pol 


OREGON     TERRITORY. 


17 


red 

SI) 

'em 

Jiiig 

ined 

ttto 

and 

labi- 


applied  wnsiinnWp,  or  unwilling,  to  assist  her — thnt 
Great  Brituin  hnd  158  sail  of  the  line,  wilh  which 
Spain  wsi-iinmlile  Inccntcml — and,  therefore,  ih;il  Iliis 
"convention"  was  ertnrttil  from  Spain,  as  it  were, 
"at  the  oannon'a  month.''  And  I  a^k,  wilh  some 
C'Mifulence,  whether,  if  Kii^'/aiid  considers  fui-k  a 
"  conreiilion'^  a  proj-er  treaty  to /"urce  upon  the  U.  P., 
who  were  no  jmrties  thereto,  the  U.  S.  will  con- 
sider it  an  ngreenicnt  whic  li  they,  as  the  grantees  of 
S,)ain,  are  bound  to  fnlfil  ? 

But  .secondly,  I  appeal  to  history  that  this  "con- 
vention," which,  upon  its  face,  has  such  an  imposing 
appearance,  wuseo'i.-idcred  liy  "  the  high  cnutracting 
powers,"  more  as  a  jinper  roncrssum,  to  gratify  the 
pride  of  the  Briti-sh  jieople,  whose  passions  had  been 
much  excited  by  the  affair  at  Nootka,  than  as  any  real 
conliact,  to  be  carried  into  execution.  liCt  any  one 
read  the  debates  in  Parliament  when  this  treaty  was 
submitted  to  that  body.  He  will  there  find,  that  the 
Ministry  and  their  friends  talked  much  of  the  vindi- 
cation of  the  honor  of  the  nation,  ^c,  while  the  oj)posi- 
tion  contended  and  showed  that  Great  Britain  had 
gained  nothing  ;  but,  upon  th«-  whole,  was  the  loser 
by  the  convention.  That  the  papers  and  correspon- 
dence upon  which  the  treaty  was  made,  were  loudly 
called  for  and  obstinately  withheld.  That  although 
I  have,  by  taking,  as  I  promised  to  do,  the  Eni^lish 
account  of  the  affair  at  the  sound,  which  states  that 
Mears  "  had  built  a  house  midfortijitd  it,"  that  there 
is  very  strong  reason  to  believe  that  Mears  never 
built  an;/ house  at  Nootka, — and  it  is  cc; tain  that,  if 
he  ever  did  build  one,  that  it  was  a  mere  shanty, 
which  was  removed  before  Martinez  came  there. 
That  the  "convention"  was  purpo.-^ely  so  worded 
that  while  it  conveyed  the  idea  that  under  its  pro- 
visions lands  and  buildings  were  to  be  restored,  yet 
for  want  of  a  sufficient  specification  ?iohc  tivr  could 
be  renored.  That  although  it  was  pronuilgated  in 
England  that  two  frigates  were  to  be  sent  out  to  the 
Pacific  to  assume  po.=session  of  the  lands,  &c.,  at 
Nootka,  that  the  commission  dwindled  down  to  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  George  Vancouver,  one  of  Cook's 
Jjieutenants  ;  who  was  not  even  sent  out  for  this  ex- 
press purpose,  but  was  about  to  sail  on  a  voyage  of 
discovery  ;— that  in  August,  1792,  Vancouver  was  at 
Nootka,  and  was  ready  to  receive  from  Quadra,  the 
Spanish  Captain,  repossession  of  the  lands,  /cc,  (if 
anj)  taken  from  Mears, — that  upon  making  strict  in- 
quiry it  was  found  that  he  (Mears)  was  never  in  pos- 
session of  any  lands  there,  and  that  no  lands  or  houses 
were  ever  restored  or  put  into  the  possession  of  the  Bri- 
tish,— that  on  the  2d  Sept.,  1791,  the  Spaniards  were 
still  in  quiet  possession  of  Nootka, — that  Vancouver 
returned  to  England  in  179.5,  and,  of  course,  made  liis 
report ;  but  nothing  further  has  been  done  in  the 
business. 

There  is,  therefore,  every  reason  for  believing  tha 
this  boasted  "  Convention,"  where  the  Britisli  right 
to  Oregon  is  said,  by  the  plenipotentiaries,  to  he  "  de- 
fined and  recorded,"  was  one  of  those  artifices  that 
the  English  ministers,  from  time  to  time,  play  off 
upon  the  people,  and  that  it  never  would  have  been 
again  thought  of  but  for  the  ingenuity  of  these  pleni- 
potentiaries.* 

*In  Belsham's  History  of  Great  Britain,  vol. 
3.,  p.  -337,  it  is  stated  that  the  Spanisli  fiag  at  Noot- 
ka was  never  struck,  uiul  that  the  whole  lerrilory  has 
been  relhiquished  by  Great  Britain. 


1  Thirdly.  The  Convention  between  Spain  niul 
Great  Britain,  upon  which  the  plenipotentiaries  rely, 
wa*  (as  above  said)  made  in  1790. 

In  1790,  Spain  declared  war  ngnnist  England. 
Now.  whatever  may  have  been  the  licenses  "  to'jm  ,  - 
gate  the  ivaters  of  those  countries,  to  spltlr  in  and  over 
any  part  of  them,  and  to  trade  with  the  inhal)ilanl.> 
andoccciipicrs  of  the  same,"  which  were  derived 
(as  it  is  saiil)  from  Spain,  and  which  Great  Britain,  by 
virtue  of  the  Convention  of  179f),  might  claim  to  c.\- 
erci.^e  in  lime  (f  peace,  certain  it  is  that,  by  the  decla- 
ration of  war  in  1796,  all  these  licenses  were  abro- 
gated and  auiniUcd,  and  that  they  never  could  be 
again  revived,  except  by  a  new  convention  maile  by 
the  parlies  in  interest. 

Thisisnprinciple  ofthe  law  of  nations,  wliich  will 
not  be  denied. 

No  new  convention  was  made  between  England 
and  Spain,  renewing  these  concessions,  between  ]7U(i 
and  the  22d  February,  1819,  when  Spain  traiisfeirej 
all  her  right,  title  and  interest  in  Oregon  to  the  United 
States. 

So  that  this  "//rffen.«io«"  of  England  to  hold  Ore- 
gon by  virtue  of  this  Convention,  is  only  another  of 
those  straws  by  the  specific  gravity  of  which  thuy 
vainly  hope  to  keep  their  unfounded  claim  from 
sulking. 

PART  V. 

The  Discovery  ofthe  Columbia  River. 
It  IS  prop(>8ed,  in  the  present  imper,  to  give  a  cor.- 
densed  view  of  all  the  facts  imniccliatcly  cunnectc:! 
with  the  discovery  ofthe  Columhia  River,  in  Orcg.  .ii 
Territory.  This  river,  one  of  the  head  waters  if 
which  is  as  far  North  as  lat.  51,  empties  into  llie  Pa- 
cific Ocean  in  40  dcg.  18',  between  two  points  of 
land ;  one  in  the  North  called  "  Cape  Disappoint- 
meni"  or  "  Cape  Hancock,"  and  the  other  called 
"Point  Adams,"  seven  miles  distant  from  each  olhe;-. 
In  177.'),  Don  Antonio  Bucareli,  then  Viceroy  of 
Mexico,  fitted  out  an  expedition  to  the  North  Pacific, 
for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  Const  fioni  Cajic 
Mendocino  in  lat.  40  deg.  19'  to  lat.  05  deg.  Thi> 
expedil  on,  which  con,>isled  of  the  Santiago  and  S'>- 
nor.T,  was  placed  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Bruno  Heceta;  Juan  Perez  going  in  the  former  ves- 
sel as  ensign,  and  .luan  de  Ayala  being  chief  officer 
of  the  latter.  These  ves.sels  on  the  Kith  June  cast 
anchor  in  acoveinlat.41deg.  3in.,  .vhicli  they  named 
"  Port  Trinidad."  On  the  9th  of  July,  finding  them- 
selves in  the  latitude  where  the  Spaniard,  Juan  de 
Fuca,  was  said  to  have  discovered  a  Strait^  they 
sailed  thither,  and  descried  the  Southwest  side  of  a 
great  Island,  since  called  "  (Jnadra  an<l  Vancouver's 
Island,"  and  the  Strait  now  called  "the  Strait  of 
Juan  de  Fnen."  They  were  then  driven  by  the  winds 
Southward  to  within  eighty  miles  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Columbia  river,  where  they  anchored  near  an 
Island,  called  by  them  "Isla  de  Delores,"  inconse- 
quence of  some  of  their  men  having  been  there  mur- 
dered by  the  natives.  The  llih  August,  while  Heceta 
was  coa.sting  Southward,  he  discovered  a  promontory 
called  by  him  "Cape  San  Roqne,"  and  immediately 
South  of  this,  in  Int.  40  deg.  10',  an  npenini;  in  the 
land  which  appeared  to  him  to  be  a  harbor  or  'l;o 
mouth  nf  a  river.  This  opening  was  afterwards  re- 
presented in  the  Spiuiish  charts,  printed  before  17oi*, 


18 


A    LECTURE   ON   THE 


by  ilie  imtiics  of  "  Kiitriidii  ile  Heoetn,"  "  Eiitrada  de 
Asiiiii'ion"  and  "  Rio  de  Sun  R'i(|ui!." 

Ill  1T!^7,  Ijiuiiicimiit  Joliii  Meares,  an  Kiiglisliman, 
niiidc  Hii  altuiniil  to  ri!-dii«covur  lliis  Imrlior  or  irioiilli 
(if  a  river,  Imt  he  was  entirely  ua.<iict'es»riil.  I  will, 
at  preneiit,  tuke /lis  ouirt  t'tnlnmtu  of  lliisairair.  lie 
say*  lie  discovered  a  lieailluiid  in  lut.  10  deg.  17, 
wliicli  lie  called  "Cape  Slioalwiiter."  -'Sailing  tlience 
along  llie.  coast,  (says  Mt;atf.-<)  toward*  the  Smili, 
a  high  blurt"  liroiiiontory  bore  im  ofTSiulhciint,  at  the 
disiiiiice  of  only  four  leagues,  for  wlii''h  we  sleeted 
to  double,  with  the  hope  that,  between  it  and  Cape 
Shoal  water,  we  s-lmuld  iiud  some  sort  rf  harbor.  We 
liowdiscovered distant  land  beyond  this  promontory, 
and  we  p'rased  ourselves  with  the  expectation  of  its 
being  "  Ca},'  Saint  Hoc"  (Roque)  nf  the  Spaniards, 
near  which  thi.y  are  said  to  have  f<mnd  a  good  port. 
By  half  jiast  e'-;  .'en  we  doubled  this  Cope,  at  the 
distance  of  '.hree  miles,  havini;  a  clear  and  perfect 
view  of  thf  shore  in  every  part,  on  which  we  did  not 
discern  a  livhig  creature,  or  the  least  traceof  habita- 
ble life.  A  prodigious  ea.'iterly  swell  rolled  on  the 
shore,  and  the  soundings  gradually  decreased,  from 
forty  to  sixteen  fathoms  over  a  hard,  sandy  bottom. 
After  we  had  rounded  the  promontory,  a  large  bay, 
as  we  had  imagined,  opened  to  our  view,  that  bore  a 
very  promising  apnearance,  and  into  which  we  steer- 
ed with  every  eiioouragiiig  expectation.  The  high- 
land that  formed  the  boundaries  of  the  Ilay  was  at  a 
great  distance,  and  a  flat,  level  country  occupied  the 
iiitervoning  space  ;  the  U.iy  it.^elf  took  rather  a  west- 
erly direction.  As  we  steered  in,  the  water  shoaled 
to  nine,  eight  and  seven  fallioins,  when  breakers 
were  seen  from  the  deck,  rit;li  ahead,  and  from  the 
must-head  tlioy  were  obscrvcil  to  exleiul  across  the 
Cay;  we,  therefore,  hatihd  out,  and  directed  our 
course  to  the  opposite  shore,  to  see  if  there  was  any 
channel,  or  if  wecoulddi>coveraiiyport."  The  name 
of  "  Cape  DisapiHiimwiJ''^  wius  given  to  the  iiroinon- 
tory,  and  the  JJay  obtained  Ih'j  title  of  "  Dtception 
B'ly.''  l?y  an  indiirercnl  meridian  observation,  it 
lies  in  the  latitude  of  40  deg.  10'  North,  and  ni  the 
computed  longitude  of  23.5  (leg.  3,5'  l^Iast.  AVe  can 
NOW  wiril  SAFETY  ASSEUT   (says  Mcares)  that  so 

SUCH    IllVEK    AS    THAT  OF  SaIXT  Roc  (Iloque)  E.MSTS, 

us  laid  down  in  the  Spanish  charts.* 

Hefore  I  proceed  to  the  discoveries  of  Captain 
Gray,  of  the  American  ship  Columbia,  I  lake  leave 
to  make  a  few  remarks  upon  this  account  of  Lieut. 
Meares. 

The  h(mest,  plain  dealing  part  of  the  community, 
not  only  of  the  United  States,  but,  I  trust,  of  England, 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  upon  these  acts  of 
Lieutenant  Meares,  Great  Britain  inahitaine  that  he 
was  the  first  discoverer  of  the  Columbia  River  ! 

In  1820,  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment presented  a  statement  to  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  from  which  the  following  is  truly  ex- 
tracted. 

"  Great  Britain  csm  show  that  in  1788,  that  is,  four 
years  before  Gray  entered  th.  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
Rircr,  Mr.  Meares,  a  lieutenant  of  the  Royal  Navy, 
who  had  been  sent  by  the  East  India  Company  on  a 
trading  expedilicn  to  tlie  Northwest  coast  of  Ameri- 

*Meares'  account  of  this  voyage,  published  by  him 
in  London,  17U1),  p.  107. 


ca,  had  Mready  minutely  explored  that  cocut,  from  the 
4Uth  to  the  .'illh  degree  of  .North  latitude  )  had  taken 
formal  possession  of  the  Straits  de  Fuca,  in  the  name 
of  his  Sovereign;  hud  purch.xsed  land,  truflicked,  and 
formed  treaties  with  the  natives  ;  and  had  ai'TI'ali.Y 

ENTKBED  THE  UaY  OF  THE  CoM'.MBIA,  TO  THE  NolirH- 
EKN  HEADLAND  OF  WHICH  HE  GAVE  THE  .NA.ME  Of  CaPE 

DlsAl'foiNT.ME.NT-a  Dame  that  it  bears  fi  this  day." 
Is  it  not  monstrous  that  gentlemen  wh<i  pride  them- 
selves upon  their  rank,  station,  talents  and  education 
should  labor  under  such  a  delusion  as  to  believe  that 
diplomacy  re()uires  of  them  to  resort  to  such  mea- 
sures ?  Perhaps  it  may  be  urged  on  behalf  of  these 
gentlemen  that  they  were  ignorant  of  Meares'  publi- 
cation, from  which  I  have  made  the  above  extract ; 
and  I  sincerely  wished  that  this  might  have  been  the 
case,  but  unfortunately*  in  the  same  paper,  these  ple- 
nipotentiaries add,  that  "Meares'  account  of  his 
voyage  was  published  in  London  in  August,  170O," 
and  it  is  hardly  fair  to  presume  that  these  gentlemen 
had  come  to  the  discussion  of  the  right  to  Oregon, 
without  reading  the  book  to  which  they  refer.  If  they 
did  read  it,  they  must  there  have  seen  that  Meares  had 
not  already  minutely  explored  the  coast  from  the  19ih 
to  54th  degree  of  N.  Lat.,  that  he  had  not  taken  for- 
mal possession  of  the  Straits  de  Fuca — that  he  had 
neither  purchased  land,  nor  trafTicked,  nor  formed 
treaties  with  the  natives — that  he  had  not  actually  en- 
tered the  Bay  of  the  Columbia  River,  but  that  on  the 
contrary,  that  he  had  asserted  that  tio  stirh  river  ever 
did  e.rist,  and  that  he  had  called  the  Cape  "  Disap- 
pohitment,"  because  he  had  been  disappointed  in  his 
expectation  of  finding  the  river  laid  down  in  the  Spa- 
nish charts. 

A  more  plausible,  but  still  far  from  being  a  sub- 
stantial excuse,  might  perhaps  be  suggested,  in  the 
fact,  that  \.\\npffiifrs  upon  which  this  statement  of  the 
rienipotenliaries  was  founded  were  fallacious,  fur 
these  gentlemen  proceed  to  say  that  they  have  ap- 
pended "an  extract  from  the  log-l)ook  of  Meares — 
maps  of  ihe  coasts  and  harbors  he  visited,  in  which 
evtry  part  of  the  Coast  in  question,  including  the  Bay 
of  the  Columbia,   (into  which  the  loo  exi'REssly 

STATES    THAT    MeAKES    ENTERED.)    is     miuutolv   laid 

doion,  and  an  engraving,  dated  August,  1790,  of  the 
entrance  of  de  Fuca  StriMts,  executed  after  a  design 
taken  in  June,  17S3,  by  Meares  himself.* 

Now  I  appeal  with  confidence  to  every  honest  man, 
without  regard  to  the  nation  to  which  he  belongs, 
that  these  "  extracts"  and  "designs,"  so  utterly  and 
entirely  at  variance  with  the  journal  published  by 
Meares  himself  in  London,  in  1790,  are  entirely  desti- 
tute of  credit.  If  the  Plenipotentiaries  made  use  of 
these  spurious  papers,  believing  them  to  have  been 
genuine,  (which,  notwithstanding  the  improbability 
of  gentlemen  of  their  extensive  reading,  never  hav- 
ing perused  Meares'  book,  published  in  London  in 
1790,  to  which  they  themselves  refer,  I  prefer  infer- 
ring,) it  behoves  them  now  to  institute  an  immediate 
iiKluiry,  and  tocause  to 'be  punished  the  individual, 
whoever  he  may  turn  out  to  be,  who  has  been  guilty 
of  this  deception.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  (which  I  at 
present  disclaim)  the  Plenipotentiaries  had  read,  the 
book  of  Meares,  published  in  London  in  1790,  and 

*  I  have  a  \vord  more  to  say  upon  the  subject  of 
tho  design,  which  shall  appear  hereafter. 


Fuci 


OREOON     TKKUITORY. 


in 


they  relied  upon  these  tpurioui  paper*,  knowing 
them  to  he  spnrious,  upon  the  supponition  that  the 
ignorant  Yankf.e.i  hod  never  seen  that  book,  and 
would  be  unable  to  detect  the  imposition,  a  much 
graver  and  more  distressing  aspect  would  be  put 
upon  the  whole  affair.  We  will  now  proceed  to 
show  who  did  discover  the  Columbia  River. 

In  the  month  of  May,  1701,  Captain  Gray,  of  the 
American  Mp  Columbia,  ofBostou,  sailing  along 
the  Northwest  Coast  of  North  America,  olwerved 
an  optning  in  lat.  46"  16',  from  which  issued  a  cur- 
rent so  strong  as  to  prevent  his  entrance  although  he 
remained  nine  days  in  its  vicinity  endeavoring  to  ef- 
fect that  object.     He  was,  however,  convinced  that 
he  had  discovered  the  mouth  of  a  large  river.    The 
ship  Colwnbia  wintered  at  Clyoquet.     On  the  29ih 
day  of  April,  1702,  they  fell  in  with  the  English  »hip 
Discovery,  Captain  Vancouver,  and  Captain  Gray 
informed    Captain   VRncouver   of   his  having  been 
"  off  the  mouih  of  a  river  in  Int.  46°  10',  where  the 
outset  or  reflux  was  so  strong  as  to  prevent  his  enter- 
ing for  nine  days."      On  the  30th  of  April,  Captain 
Vancouver  made  the  following  entry  in  his  journal, 
which   has  been  since  published  :      "  We  have  now 
explored  a  part  of  the  American  continent,  extend- 
ing nearly  two  hundred  and  fifteen  leagues,  under' 
the  most   fortunate  and  favorable  circumstances  of 
wind  and  weather.    So  minutely  has  this  extensive 
coast  been  inspected,  that  the  surf  has  been  constant- 
ly seen  to  break,  on    its   shores,  from    '.he    mast- 
head ;  and  it  was  but  in  a  few  small   intervals  only 
where  our  distance  precluded  its  being  visible  from 
the  deck.    It  must  be  considered  as  a  very  singular 
circumstance,  that,  in  so  great  an  extent  of  coast, 
we  should  not  until  now  have  seen  the  appearance  of 
any  opening  in  its  shores,  which  presented  any  certain 
prospect  of  affording  shelter  ;  the  whole  roast foiming 
one  compact,  solid  and  nearly  straight  harrin  against 
thi  sea.     The  rtver  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gray  should, 
from  the  latitude  he  assigned  to  it,  have  existence 
in  the  Bay  South  of  Cape  Disappointment.    This  we 
passed  in  the  forenoon  of  the  27th  ;  and,  as  I  then 
observed,  if  any  inlet  or  river  should  be  found,  it 
must  be  a  very  intricate  one,  and  inaccessible  to  ves- 
sels of  our  burthen,  owing  to  the  reefs  and  broken 
water,  which  then  appeared  in  its  neighborhood. 
ATr.   Gray  stated  that  he  had  been  several  days  at- 
tempting to  enter  it,  which  at  length  he  was  unable 
to  effect,  in  consequence  of  a  very  strong  outset. 
This  is  a  phenomenon  difficult  to  account  for,  as,  in 
most  cases,  where  there  are  outsets  of  such  strength 
in  a  sea  coast,  there  are  corresponding  tides  getting 
in.    Be  that,  however,  as  it  may,  I  was  thoroughly 
convinced,  as  were  also  most  persons  of  observation 
on  board,  that  we  could  not  possibly  hax^e  passed  any 
safe  navigable  opening  harbor,  or  place  of  security  for 
skipping  on  this  coast  from  Cape  Mendocino*  to  t)u 
promontory  of  Classet,^  nor  had  we  any  reason  to 
alter  our  opinions,  notwithstanding  that  theoretical 
geographers  have  thought  proper  to  assert  in  that 
space  the  existence  of  arms  of  the  Ocean,  communi- 
cating with  a  Mediterranean  Sea,   and   extensive 
rivtri,  with  safe  and  convenient  porta." 

*  Lat,  40°  19'. 

t  Cape  Flattery,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Straits  de 
Fuca,  between  48  and  40°. 


Now  I  appeal  again  to  the  honest  of  all  nations 
whether  it  could  be  possible,  that  Lieutenant  Meares, 
of  the  Royal  Navy,  could  have  previously  visited 
every  part  of  this  coast,  including  the  Bay  of  Colum- 
bia, into  which  the  spurious  extracts  of  his  log- 
book, referred  to  by  the  plenipotentiaries,  "  expressly 
state  that  he  entered."  Ap-I  whether  he  could  have, 
in  1788,  made  any  such  "  design"  of  the  entrance  to 
the  straits  of  Fuca,  the  existence  of  which  Captain 
Vancouver  treats  as  being  fabulous.  That  Captain 
Vancouver  had  seen  Meares'  book  published  in  Lon- 
don, 1790,  is  highly  probable,  if  not  certain,  for  he 
refers  to  "Disappointment,"  the  name  bestowed  by 
Meares  upon  the  Cape,  in  c(  iiseqnence  of  his  having 
been  disappointed  in  finding  the  San  Roque,  (the  Co- 
lumbia.)  What  opinion  then  must  be  formed  of  the 
line  of  conduct  of  the  British  Government,  if  they 
persist  in  their  endeavor  to  take  away  from  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  the  Territory  of  Oregon, 
upon  such  dishonorable  and  dishonest  giounds  ai 
these  spurious  extracts  and  antidated  designs  ? 

But  we  must  return  to  Captain  Gray.  On  the  11th 
of  May,  the  ship  Columbia  was  opposite  to  the  "  De- 
ception Bay"  of  Lieutenant  Meares,  and  immediate- 
ly South  of  his  "  Cnpe  Disappointment,"  ut  the  very 
spot  where  Captain  Vancouver  was  thoroughly  eon- 
vinceil  there  was  no  river.  The  breakers  extending 
across  tlie  bay,  presented  as  usual,  a  formidable  ap- 
pearance ;  but  the  gallant  Yankee,  nothing  daunted, 
dashed  forward,  and  soon  found  himself  on  the  broad 
bosom  of  the  Columbia  ;  the  waters  of  whioh  were  so 
fresh,  that  the  casks  of  the  ship  were  filled  within 
ten  miles  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  On  the  14th,  he  as- 
cended that  river  twenty  mil''-  from  its  mouth; 
anchored,  landed, and  traded  wiihthe  natives  until 
the  18ih.  On  the  20th,  he  descended  the  river, 
passed  the  breakers  and  entered  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Captain  Gray  gave  the  name  of  his  ship  ("the  Co- 
lumbia") to  the  river.  The  Cape  at  the  Southern 
sid^he  called  "Adams;"  and  "Hancock"  was 
substituted  for  "  Disappointment. "# 

Of  the  merit  of  this  discovery,  no  power  on  earth 
can  deprive  Captain  Gray.  Even  were  might  to 
overcome  right,  and  the  Americans  to  be  deprived 
of  the  Territory,  posterity  would  do  justice  to  this 
bold  and  enterprising  American.  The  United  States 
has  no  knighthood  to  confer  upon  him ;  but  his  name 
shall  descend  to  after  times  honored ;  not  so  with 
Sir  Francis  Drake's ! 

At  Nootka  Sound,  Captain  Vancouver  was  inform- 
ed of  the  particulars  of  Captain  Gray's  successes, 
and  received  from  the  Spanish  Commissioner,  Qua- 
dra, copies  of  Gray's  charts  and  descriptions  ;  which 
had  been  obtained  from  Gray.  In  the  following  Oc 
tober,  Vancouver  went  again  in  search  of  the  Co- 
lumbia River,  and  this  time  he  found  it.  Now  mark, 
my  countrymen,  how  ingeniously  and  ungenerously 
he  endeavors  to  deprive  Captain  Gray  of  his  fame : 

"  The  portion  of  the  Columbia  River  near  the  sea 
(says  Vancouvar)  was  found  by  Captain  Broughton, 
(who  he  sent  in  to  make  explorations,)  to  be  about 
seven  miles  in  width,  its  depth  varied  from  two  fa- 
thoms to  eight,  and  it  was  crossed,  in  every  direction, 
by  shoalfl,  which  must  always  render  the  navigation 

*  Extracts  from  Captain  Gray'i  log-book  ta  pub< 
lished. 


20 


A  LEcrrnK  on  the  ohemon  tkiiritokv. 


difflcuh,  even  by  small  veiseli.  Higher  up,  the  iireain 
became  narrower,  at  the  dbtaiice  of  iweiily-five 
miles  its  breadth  did  not  exceed  lOtlU  ynnlfl."  Prom 
theie  rircumatnnces,  Vancouver  contend*  that  the 
true  emranci  nftke  Rivir  was  at  thatjmnt ;  and  hence 
that,  as  Captain  Gray  had  proceeded  only  twenty 
miles,  he  had  not  discovered  the  Colnmhiu  River  '. 
I  blush  for  human  nature  as  I  record  such  snphlstry. 
Shame  upon  sucb  unbecoming  envy  and  uiicharita- 
blenesB  I    From  the  point  alwve  mentioned  to  the 


ocean  is  not  "  (As  Hiver,"  but  "  on  inltt"  or  "  Sound,*' 
(says  Vancouver.)  I  will  not  insult  the  understand- 
ing of  my  readers  by  making  any  comments  upon 
this  (pretended)  distinclinn. 

Such  is  the  impartial  history  ofthe  di.icovery  of  the 
Columbia  River,  upon  the  merits  of  which  the  im- 
partial will  decide  according  to  the  dictates  of  I'XTiTH 
and  Right. 

"  Let  JrsTtcK  be  dune,  / 

Though  the  heavens  shall  fall."  ^ 


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